Kaze No Kami
by th4n
Summary: Naruto armed with a new power, changes the world to become what everyone in the elemental nations will one day know as the Wind God, the Kaze No Kami. Naruto x Fem.Kyuubi / Team 7 Bashing / Rated M for Violence and Language.
1. First contact

A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><span>Detailed summary:<span>

This is the story of Naruto as he discovers his burden the night of his sixth birthday. Everyone knows that Jinchurikis get special abilities from their Bijuu as the Ichibi's ability to control sand.

Now contrary to popular belief, what Naruto gained from his burden was not a high healing regeneration power. What he gained is the power to bend a particular element to his will, mastery over Nature's most secretive and discrete power, Wind.

Now watch as Naruto armed with a new power changes the world to become what everyone in the elemental nations will one day know as the Wind God, the Kaze No Kami.

Pairing:

Naruto x Fem. Kyuubi

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: First contact<strong>

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><p>It was late in the night of the ever peaceful village of Konoha, one figure could be seen walking in the woods behind the Hokage monument. It was a young boy with bright blond hairs and deep oceanic blue eyes. It had been a month since he was thrown out of the orphanage and he was seriously starting to feel hunger, thirst but above all sadness …<p>

Naruto wandered the woods with no particular goal in mind, just thinking about why everyone in the streets looked at him with hate and disgust in their eyes.

"_Damn I'm so tired, it's been two days since I last ate"_ he thought, as he remembered behind the Akimichi barbecue restaurant where he found some leftovers in the garbage that was still edible.

Then all of a sudden he sees something moving behind between the bushes, a kunai suddenly embedded in the tree only an inch apart from where his head is.

"There he is guys, it's our lucky day the demon is alone in this remote place!" said a man.

He was not alone as Naruto could hear numerous more footsteps coming in his direction.

"What do you want mister?" asked Naruto with obvious fear in his voice.

"What do I want? I want my son back you monster" said the man as the other men and women who had been with him gathered around Naruto.

"Your son? Where is he?" replied Naruto not understanding what this man's son had to do with him.

"Don't play the innocent with me demon! You killed him and I'm finally gonna get my revenge tonight." said the angered man as more and more people joined him.

Then the crowd broke apart to let one man advance, he was dressed in shinobi gears but Naruto did not know how to tell which rank he was. He started to see that the crowd was actually composed of several of those shinobis all wearing headbands with a leaf sign, between the people in regular civilian clothes.

"Mister Shinobi-san please help me! This man wants to hurt me but I'm innocent I swear!" said Naruto with tears in his eyes.

As he was about to add something else, he never saw the man taking a kunai from his pouch and throwing it hard in his direction. The kunai hit his chest and Naruto could only gasp as the pain he felt prevented him from saying anything. Then all went dark.

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><p><strong>Hokage tower:<strong>

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><p>Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk contemplating the volume of paperwork he still had to do before he could call it a night. The council he had just left was more or less a repeat of what happened every year at the same date for the last six years.<p>

The council was composed of three powers, the ninja, the civilians and the elders.

The ninja side was composed of the different clan heads of Konoha's noble families:

Fugaku Uchiha from the Uchiha clan,

Hiashi Hyuuga from the Hyuuga clan,

Tsume Inuzuka from the Inuzuka clan,

Shibi Aburame from the Aburame clan,

Shikaku Nara from the Nara clan,

Inoichi Yamanaka from the Yamanaka clan,

Choza Akimichi from the Akimichi clan.

Asuma Sarutobi from the Sarutobi clan.

The civilian side was composed of the most powerful civilian families and finally the elder side was composed of Sarutobi's old teammates, Koharu, Homura and Danzo.

Today's council meeting had been initialized by the civilian members once again with the same subject: Naruto Uzumaki.

_Flashback: Council chamber_

"_We cannot let that demon continue to grow up Hokage-sama" said one of the civilian representative._

"_We have to kill it before it is too late!" added another civilian before the sandaime flared his killing intent in the room silencing all the civilians while the shinobi experienced mild discomfort._

"_You will do nothing to the boy! And need I remind you all fools that the law regarding his tenant is still effective, the next offender will be accordingly punished!" barked Sarutobi._

_Seeing an opening, Danzo tried to play his cards "Maybe a compromise, Sarutobi. If I could ..." started Danzo as he was immediately cut by the sandaime._

"_He will not be placed in one of your "youth centers" either Danzo" added the sandaime as he thought about ROOT and even though he knew Danzo never really abandonned his operation he had no proof to stop the man._

"_Maybe if we could adopt ..." started the Inuzuka clan matriarch Tsume only to be cut by another clan head._

"_Never, the Uchiha will not allow that demo... thing to be adopted in a Konoha noble family, it would ruin the balance between them!" said a smirking Fugaku ignoring the glare he received from Tsume._

_End of flashback_

Today's meeting ended in the same manner as all the meetings about Naruto in the past, any idea to improve the boy's life was either blocked by the civilian council or the elders. Any attempt to adopt the boy was also vetoed. Sarutobi could only block the civilians ridiculous attempts to kill the boy he came to see as a grandson.

Speaking about the boy, Sarutobi had just came home from a long month trip to Suna and wondered what his surrogate grandson was doing. He tried to visit the boy as often as he could but his responsibilities as Hokage never allowed him to visit the boy more than once a month.

He was a bit surprised that the civilian representatives had asked for a council meeting just after his return to the village this morning but thought no more of it and decided to postpone his visit to his grandson to tomorrow.

That was when he felt an explosion of chakra, so dark and evil that it could only mean one thing … "Naruto!" said the sandaime as he used his crystal ball to locate the boy. His eyes widened at what he saw …

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><p><strong>Naruto's location in the woods:<strong>

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><p>Bodies were flying everywhere, blood covered the whole area as Naruto stood there, in the middle of this hell. His eyes were slitted and red, his whiskers marks were more pronounced. He looked around to see that no one from the previous crowd was alive, Ninja and civilians, men and women all dead. Then slowly he closed his eyes as he fell to the ground unconscious.<p>

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><p><strong>Mindscape:<strong>

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><p>Naruto wandered through what looked like sewers, he felt like someone or something was pulling him as he moved in auto pilot to reach his destination, a giant prison cell with a sign that read "Seal" on it.<p>

He paid no mind to the bars and easily slipped through and went further inside the cell. He took a few steps inside when he saw a woman on the ground, panting trying to regain her breath. She was beautiful, she had red hairs and red eyes. She wore a black kimono and no shoes. She had the body of a goddess and what surprised him was the two appendages he saw on her head that looked like fox ears and more importantly the nine tails that were flowing behind her back.

"Ano … Miss are you alright?" he asked.

She turned her head in his direction and her eyes widened when she saw him. **"Naruto-kun! You're here!"** She said as she ran to him and enveloped him in a hug with tears in her eyes.

"**I was so scared for you when I saw what was happening outside"** said the woman as she continued to hug him.

"Do I know you miss? How do you know my name?" asked the boy a little embarrassed with the first contact he ever shared with a woman.

She released the hug at his question and took a few step back before lowering her head, She mumbled **"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun, I am the reason why everybody hates you, why you are all alone in this world" **she said with tears freely flowing from her red eyes.

"How is it possible, I mean I never saw you how could you be responsible for what the villagers call me?" asked the boy.

"**Do you know of what happened six years ago when Konoha almost faced total destruction?"** replied the woman.

"Yes the Kyuubi attacked the village and killed a lot a people before the Yondaime killed it" answered Naruto.

"**No that's not entirely the truth of what happened, you see Kyuubi cannot be killed, even if it sustained important damage it would just reform somewhere else after some time" **said the woman before continuing. **"The Yondaime had no other choice but to seal the Kyuubi, he sealed it inside a newborn to ensure that the mass of chakra could be absorbed and not destroy the chakra system of an already developed body."**

Naruto's eyes widen as he realised where what she said was going, "Me ..." he said in a low voice.

"I truly am the demon who took so many lives" he continued before she cut him

"**You are wrong Naruto-kun, I am the Kyuubi and we are two different entities"** She said.

"Then that means we are ..." he started.

"**Yes we are in the seal in a dimension that you could call your mindscape"** she said.

"**When you were stabbed earlier I forced all the chakra I could out to help you"** She added.

He stayed silent for a long time then he asked her "Why? Why did you help me if you are the same demon that attacked the village 6 years ago?"

"**I will not tell you everything but I can tell you that It was not my intention to attack the village, I was forced to do it by someone with incredible powers"** She answered.

"You did not answer me, Why help me don't you have the chance to escape if I die?" He asked again.

"**I never wanted for you to suffer, I tried desperately to contact you for all those years but the seal prevented me from doing so. The injury you received tonight triggered something that allowed me to help you tonight."** She told him.

He closed the distance between them and then completely surprised her when he hugged her and said "I believe you Kyuu-chan, you are the only one besides Jiji who ever helped me in all my life"

She was surprised that he did not feel hatred towards her but returned the hug and said **"Do you not fear me now that you know that I am the Kyuubi?"**

"Why should I fear you, you are the most beautiful woman I ever saw Kyuu-chan you can't be a bad person" he said to her.

She blushed at his answer before she shed more tears and smiled at him **"Thank you, thank you so much Naruto-kun I'm so relieved that you don't hate me. But you should know that my real name isn't Kyuubi, Kyuubi is my tittle, my real name is Natsuki."**

"It's nice to meet you Na-chan, I am Naruto Uzumaki Future Hokage of Konoha!" he said with a smile on his face and determination in his eyes.

She blushed again at the nickname he gave her **"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Naru-kun, I will do everything within my power to help you achieve your dream. For that our encounter has unlocked your ability from me being sealed in you"** She said.

"What ability?" he asked with excitement in his voice.

"**You have now the ability to control the wind to a level no one has ever reached. With the appropriate training you will become unstoppable" **she answered with pride.

"Sugoi! I'm awesome!" He exclamed.

"**We will talk about training later, you must go for now you are starting to wake up."** She said.

"Will I see you again Na-chan?" he asked blushing.

"**Yes, we can talk to each other now that we made our first contact" **She answered with a smile as he started to fade away.

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><p><strong>Konoha Hospital:<strong>

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><p>As he started to wake up, Naruto opened his eyes and saw he was in a hospital room. Then he saw his grandfather figure.<p>

"You're finally back Jiji ..."

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><p><strong>AN: So what do you think? Read and review please.**


	2. Training years

A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. Wow 260 Hits and 230 Visitors in only a few hours this is great motivation :)

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><p>Thanks at my first reviewers and to Moontear1234 I really enjoy your fics and thanks for pointing out the flaw in Kyuu's name, instead of Nat-chan the nickname will be Na-chan, I like it shorter :)<p>

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Training years<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha residential district:<strong>

Naruto was alone in his apartment thinking about all that had happened in the last six years since that fateful night where he discovered why everyone hated him. He was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi No Kitsune, prison for the most powerful demon to have ever walked the Earth.

He lived alone in this apartment since that night. Remembering how he came to live here made him smile.

_Flashback: 6 years ago, Konoha Hospital after the incident_

_Naruto opened his eyes after the conversation with Natsuki to find himself in a hospital room. The Sandaime Hokage was there with a sad smile on his face._

"_Naruto my boy how do you feel?" asked the old man._

"_Like someone who's been stabbed what do you think Jiji?" answered the boy with a slight irritation in his voice making the old man lower his head in shame._

"_I'm sorry I was not here for you Naruto but can you tell me what you remember from last night?" replied the old man._

"_**Naruto it's me Natsuki, stay calm and repeat after me ..."** he instantly remembered the voice of his newest friend and followed her lead._

_He explained how he was thrown out of the orphanage one month ago just the day after Sarutobi left for his diplomatic mission in Suna. He talked about how he survived from the streets alone during that month and finally he finished with the event that took place the last night up to the point where he felt the stab wound on his chest and lost consciousness due to the pain._

_The old man fumed at the thought of the civilian council taking advantage of his diplomatic mission to try to take out the boy. He realised why they called for a meeting as soon as he arrived in Konoha. Most likely they tried to starve the boy to death or at least weaken him to the point where he could not even put a fight or attempt to escape when they finally make their move. They would then justify his death with their ridiculous attempt during the meeting and make the boy's body disappear at the same time._

"_Naruto it's important do you remember anything from after when you were stabbed yesterday?" he asked the boy to try to discover if he came in contact with his tenant._

"_No Jiji, all I know is that I woke up here" answered the boy with no doubt in his voice._

"_Where will I live now Jiji? The people at the orphanage kicked me out and they never let any of the other children play with me" asked Naruto with sadness in his voice._

_Sarutobi frowned at the boy's words and cursed the stupidity and ignorance of the people._

"_Naruto I have a solution to your problem, but first I need to ask you a question. Do you want to become a Ninja, to serve your village and to become a protector of the will of fire?" asked the old man his eyes looking directly into the young boy's eyes._

"_Really Jiji you will let me become a Ninja?" answered an excited Naruto._

_Sarutobi chuckled at the boy then answered "Yes Naruto starting tomorrow you will enter the academy. You will get an apartment and you will come to me each week to get your money to buy what you need, how's that sound?"_

"_That's great Jiji, I will become the best shinobi! Just wait I'll show them all who I am!" exclaimed the boy with conviction._

_End of flashback_

The last six years have been quite exciting for Naruto, after one day at the academy he understood that those teachers would never teach him anything of value to help him in his future career. It did not stop him from wanting to become a shinobi. He knew he had an instructor that would help him develop his natural talent in the shinobi arts. Thinking about her made him remember the training he went through to reach the level he has now.

_Flashback: 6 years ago after the first day at the academy_

"_Na-chan are you sure they were lying to me about teaching me how to be a proper shinobi?" asked the young boy to his tenant._

"_**Yes Naru-kun I'm sure, you will learn in time to read people's emotion and you will be able to tell when someone is lying to you."** answered the vixen._

"_Okay so how will I be able to become the best shinobi if no one is willing to teach me?" asked a dejected Naruto._

"_**Did you forget who you are speaking to? I have thousands years of experience and I doubt you could find someone better than me to explain to you how your bloodline works."** Natsuki answered._

"_What! I have a bloodline what is it? Can I have the cool eyes like those ninja I saw once?" asked the boy._

_Natsuki had to facepalm at his answer **"Do you not remember last night when I said that you unlocked my ability?"**_

"_Ha yes the wind thing! So that's my bloodline?" he had to smile at his previous question._

"_**Actually that's only one of your bloodlines, you have another one that must come from one of your parents. Did you note that you never experienced illness? Or the fact that you heal a lot faster than anyone else around you?"** answered Natsuki._

"_No I thought it was normal and everyone else was the same" he said with a sweatdrop._

"_**It also gives your body very high adaptability to any environment, that's why you have enormous amount of chakra, the seal converts permanently my chakra into your body to increase your own reserves"** continued the vixen before she saw a frown on his face._

"_Is it not dangerous for you Na-chan if I take all of your chakra?" he asked with concern in his voice. He did not want to loose the first friend he made aside the old man._

_She was touched at his concern for her **"Don't worry, I have plenty of chakra and you did not even tapped the surface of my first tail up to this day"** she said to comfort him._

"_Okay so when will you teach me that wind thing? Will I be able to fly? Will I launch Godzilla wind monsters at my enemies?" asked an over excited boy who forgot all of his previous concern._

"_**Easy tiger, you will learn everything in time I promise you. For now your body is not ready yet and since those fools at the academy won't teach you anything we will adapt the best we can to your situation"** she said in a strong voice to make him realize this was important._

"_**Since we can't do much during your day at the academy, you will rest your body and come inside your mindscape with me to learn what you can. It shouldn't be too hard, you just have to sleep all day like that boy with the pineapple haircut, the instructor won't bother you since they basically ignore you anyway. Then when you leave the academy you will go train your body every night."** she finished to explain to him._

"_Okay that sounds like a plan!" answered the boy with determination._

_End of flashback_

And so his days went like that for 6 years, he remembered the schedule Natsuki made for him to complete his curriculum.

The first two years were exclusively occupied with physical exercises to prepare his body for the future techniques he would learn. During his mindscape training he would learn about the theory of chakra, how it was formed and what it could do.

The third year was devoted to learn the Kitsune Taijutsu style, it was a style that was based on evasive movements, feints and counters. He developed the body to use this style, flexibility and some light muscle work that allowed swift and fast movements. During the day he would learn various subject with Natsuki, ranging from philosophy to strategy.

The fourth year was used to develop his ability with weapons, he learned everything from the use of kunai, shuriken, senbon to swordplay. Natsuki taught him the Kitsune Kenjutsu style. Strangely she said that a boken would suffice and that he didn't need to wield heavy weapons. He did not want to argue with her so he did just as he was told. During the day he would learn all about science and Natsuki insisted that this was a very important subject for his future.

The fifth year was basic Ninjutsu training. Natsuki decided to teach him every basic jutsu he would need in the future. He learned Henge, Kawarimi but he had difficulties to learn the Bunshin. Natsuki saw immediately the problem and decided to teach him the Kage Bunshin. Of course she knew of the technique advantage and had planned to teach it to him after that anyway. He spent the year perfecting those techniques and even learned the Shunshin displacement technique.

The final year she decided it was finally time to teach him how to use his bloodline. He did try the test of the chakra paper but his affinity to wind was so high the moment he started to channel chakra into the paper it exploded in hundreds of pieces. She thought that even if he did possess a second affinity, the first one was so powerful this test could not tell what the second one would be.

_Flashback: One year ago _

"_**Well this test won't tell us anymore than what we already knew"** said Natsuki._

"_So what do I do to use my bloodline?" asked the ever excited blond._

"_**For starters, your bloodline gives you total control over the wind element, you won't need any hand-sign to launch wind-based jutsus. In a fight where two opponents of the same strength face each other your speed of execution will determine your victory."** she said first._

"_**Additionally you will not have to call the jutsu either before launching it, just thinking about it is enough before you launch it. In a mission where stealth or the surprise effect is needed this will be a great asset to you."** she continued._

"_**Finally, and this is where all the lessons I had you take in science come, your mastery over wind is so powerful you will have the ability to control or counter any other elemental attack used against you by just using your wind element"** she finished._

_Naruto had been silent the entire time, nodding occasionally but this needed explanation._

"_What do you mean I can control or counter any elemental technique used against me Na-chan?" he asked in a confused voice._

"_I know for example that fire elemental jutsus easily trump wind elemental jutsus" he continued._

"_**Excellent Naru-kun I see you remembered what I told you about the elements"** she said with pride before continuing **"Now remind me the basics on the fire element"** she asked with a smirk on her face._

"_Fire manipulation is based on the ability of the user to expel his chakra in a combustible material to lit it and the reaction continues as long as the combustible is present and the user channels his chakra for the technique" he recited._

"_**Pimpom! Good answer again, now tell me what is the most common combustible used during the fire manipulation jutsus?"** her smirked was more and more confusing until he understood where she was going. His eyes widened_

"_Oxygen! The ninja uses the oxygen in the air to fuel his technique and I have complete mastery over Wind and consequently the air between him and me so no oxygen no fire! That's genious Na-chan!" he shouted._

"_**That is correct Naru-kun, and it is basically the same for all the other elemental techniques, just with some adaptations, nothing you couldn't find by yourself."** She answered._

_End of flashback_

And so his last year was dedicated to learn wind jutsus as well as finding counters to all the other elemental jutus that would be used against him.

The only problem with his training is that as it was a secret training and he did not reveal to anyone that he could communicate with his tenant or that he had an incredible bloodline, not even to the old man. As a consequence he could not test the results of his counter techniques as he had no way to throw any jutsu other that wind-based on himself as a test subject.

He wouldn't let this get to him as he thought about the next day, it was indeed the time for the genin exams and starting tomorrow he would become a true shinobi of Konoha.

Of course he kept in a corner of his mind that a certain Duck ass in his graduating class had an uncanny ability to use fire jutsus and that he could use this information to provoke the emo king into a sparring session just to test run his control over his bloodline.

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><p><strong>AN:** What do you think? I always thought that the principles behind the elemental jutsus left some plot holes that could be easily exploited. Read and Review.


	3. Genin exams

A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me.

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><p>So many good reviews in less than a day, thanks. Never realized until today how long it is to actually write those chapters, I'm trying to have mines between 2K and 3K words each, hope it's not too short and convey enough each time.<p>

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Genin Exams<strong>

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><p><strong>Naruto's apartment<strong>

It's finally the day of the genin exams as Naruto wakes up in his comfy apartment.

It was a pretty well equipped apartment, Naruto remembered when he first got here everything was old, dirty and barely usable. He went over the money the old man gave him for the week and decided to make a list of what he would need and how much he could save each week to buy new furniture with the help of Natsuki.

They were surprised the first time Naruto tried to buy groceries at a nearby store, the shop keeper gave Naruto a scowl and tripled the price when the time to pay came. Naruto didn't think much of it except for the fact that he would need to save money for a long time before he could afford new things for his apartment that were not of great priority.

Of course Natsuki knew better than the gullible young boy and explained to him that the shops were ripping him off. With the vixen advice he went to the old man and asked why prices were doubled or tripled for him, needless to say the old man was pissed and went himself with the boy to each store he would need to buy things from in the future and discretely threatened each store with the closure of their business and removal of their license in Konoha should they try again to rip off the young boy. Needless to say life went a lot better for Naruto after that event.

He finally got out of his bed and started his morning ritual. After that, he changed clothes and put on his ninja gears. His shinobi gears consisted of white ANBU style pants, a white long-sleeve shirt with a black jonin style protection vest, black fingerless gloves and finally black shinobi boots.

"Are you awake Na-chan?" asked the twelve years old teenager.

"**Yes Naru-kun I am, so are you excited? It is finally the day you become a shinobi." **replied the vixen in his mind.

"You bet I am! What level of skill do you think I should show during the exams?" Naruto said.

"**Hmm, if we look at this considering who would be in your team after the exams I think you need to take the spot of rookie of the year"** she answered.

"What do you mean? Can you predict who will be my teammates if I graduate with the best scores in today's exams?" he asked a little confused.

"**Yes, remember when we learned about previous exams to prepare you for today and how Konoha tends to team up the rookie of the year with the top kunoichi of the class and then with the student scoring the lowest score."** told Natsuki.

"Yes you're right, this way I won't have to be with the Teme, looking at everyone's previous grades I'd say Hinata or Sakura would be the top kunoichi while Kiba or Shikamaru would be the lowest student who passed." Analyzed Naruto.

"**Yes that is correct, you can't stand that spoiled brat with the god complex and you know that I hate his guts too so there's really no point to keep on hiding your skills at this point."** she added.

"**Furthermore, you should limit your exposure to chunin skill level as to not be too suspicious, while rare that kind of skill isn't impossible to reach for an academy student in his last year"** she said to reply to his question.

"That makes sense, I will hide my more powerful techniques for later then, thanks Na-chan" he finished their conversation.

With that he left his apartment, locked the door and then used shunshin to get to the academy's roof.

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><p><strong>Konoha Academy<strong>

A small poof was heard on top of the academy's roof and Naruto slowly made his way to his classroom for what he swore would be his last day in this building.

Upon entering his classroom, he saw that he was the last to arrive. His class was composed of most of Konoha's future clan heads.

Aburame Shino heir to the Aburame Clan and a guy Naruto never talk to up to this day.

Akimichi Chouji heir to the Akimichi Can and someone Naruto never saw without some food.

Hyuuga Hinata heiress to the Hyuuga Clan and a girl Naruto never saw finish a sentence without a stutter.

Inuzuka Kiba heir to the Inuzuka Clan and someone who always liked to pick a fight with the Uchiha, some kind of alpha male thing as he remembered Natsuki explaining to him.

Nara Shikamaru, heir to the Nara Clan and laziest person Naruto ever met.

Uchiha Sasuke heir to the Uchicha Clan even though said clan was in fact only him as the rest died in an obscure accident years ago. The Uchiha had to be the most arrogant person Naruto ever met and even though he had some skills he thought of himself being God's gift to the shinobi nations.

Yamanaka Ino heiress to the Yamanaka Clan and the most superficial girl in the class.

The rest of the students were from civilians families and only one or two had the skill to become a true ninja, Haruno Sakura being one of them if she ever decided to get her head out of the Uchiha's ass.

The chunin instructors Umino Ikura and his assistant Mizuki entered the classroom and described what the tests would be about.

The first part was a written exam, Naruto knew all the answers and calmly filled his exam paper with the good answers. He finished the test in half an hour and waited patiently for the rest of the time.

The second part was about weapon accuracy. Students had to throw ten kunai and after that ten shuriken at different targets placed on the practice field.

The students were called in alphabetic order,

Shino scored 7 on the kunai exam and 7 on the shuriken exam.

Chouji scored 7 on the kunai exam and 6 on the shuriken exam.

Hinata scored 9 on the kunai exam and 9 on the shuriken exam. "Excellent Hinata" said Iruka with pride while the girl just blushed and discretely took her place back in the crowd.

Kiba scored 5 on the kunai exam and 5 on the shuriken exam. He left the launching spot with a scowl on his face.

Shikamaru scored 5 on the kunai exam and 6 on the shuriken exam.

Sasuke scored 10 on the kunai exam and 9 on the shuriken exam, he had a scowl on his face as the last shuriken throw didn't have enough strength to stay embedded in the target. He left the spot with a smirk on his face looking at the next contestant. "Beat that Dobe" he said as he left the place.

Naruto went to his spot with a bored expression on his face. He analyzed the distance of each target in his mind and prepared to launch his weapons.

"_High speed penetration power, straight path to the target, air resistance decreased by a factor 3, small layer of wind chakra applied to each kunai" _he thought in his mind before launching all ten kunai at the same time.

The crowd went silent as each kunai hit the target in the center and embedded itself deeply inside with such strength that the support holding back each target went a few inches backward.

Iruka's eyes widen at the sight and Sasuke's smirk instantly disappeared and he said "Lucky shot dobe" while he mentally fumed at what just happened in front of him.

Naruto took the insult silently a prepared himself for the next part of the exam with a smirk.

"_Low speed penetration power, curve path to the target, air resistance decreased by a factor 2, medium-sized layer of wind chakra applied to each shuriken" _he thought in his mind.

This time he launched each shuriken one at a time with very large movements from his throwing arm, giving each shuriken a different curving path to hit every target dead in the center once again.

Everyone's jaw dropped to the ground, including the instructors, Naruto left the spot saying to no one in particular he said "Man I'm so lucky today, wonder what's going on" with a grin on his face.

"V-Very good Naruto, you must be very lucky today" announced Iruka before initiating the next part of the exams.

"Now is the time to assess your Taijutsu level" continued the chunin.

Students were paired two by two and the matches went on for 3 minutes each time and the student scoring the most points by hitting designated area of their opponent's body won.

Every fight went on until the last two boys were called. "Uchiha Sasuke versus Uzumaki Naruto" called Iruka.

"_The dobe will pay for the humiliation he put me through earlier!"_ thought the black haired teen.

"_Is it luck or not that I have to face the emo king here"_ wondered the blond.

"Hajime!" called Iruka.

Sasuke charged immediately at his opponent and launched a barrage of punches and kicks.

Naruto simply danced around his opponent making good use of the excellent footwork he developed for the Kitsune Taijutsu Style.

The "fight" went on like this for 2 minutes and 30 seconds until the Uchiha quite tired from his attempts to hit the blond tried to bait him into charging. "Don't know what kind of style you are using dobe but the one who invented it must be pretty stupid to use a style where you don't even have an offensive attack" he said with a smirk.

"_Am I supposed to charge at him with everything I have while yelling to defend my master's honor? What an idiotic taunt ..."_ thought the blond before a grin made its way on his face _"I'll give him what he wants then"_

"_**Futon: Kaze no Yoroi**"_ thought Naruto charging wind chakra into his body before disappearing from his original position leaving several after-images in his path.

Using his own family stance, Sasuke "blocked" the strike, or he thought he did as an after-image charged right through him and he lowered his guard then the real Naruto followed after that and delivered a powerful hit into his opponent's solar plexus, effectively cutting the air circulation in Sasuke's body.

The black haired boy fell to the ground silently, already unconscious before touching the ground.

Iruka woke up from his stupor and announced the winner "Shousha! Uzumaki Naruto by K.O. In 2 minutes and 35 seconds earns maximum points" before he took the Uchiha's body over his shoulder to proceed to the infirmary.

The exam took a short recess for everyone to go eat and then resumed after that.

"The last part of this year exams is the Ninjutsu proficiency" he told his students.

The exam went without a problem for Naruto as he had already learned all the techniques that the instructors asked him to perform to pass the exam.

He took his headband and as he left the room he noticed the scowl on Mizuki's face, he left it in a corner of his mind and proceeded to the exit.

When the last part was over, every student returned to his desk and Iruka congratulated the new genins while he gave some words of encouragement to those who failed.

"Now is the time to announce the scores for the spot of rookie and kunoichi of the year" He would not announce the student who passed with the lowest grade as it was not something to really be proud of nor did said student really needed a public humiliation.

"For the spot of kunoichi of the year, Hyuuga Hinata!" he said with pride.

The girl blushed but she could stand up and bow to her teacher before sitting back.

"Now for this year top student and rookie of the year, Uzumaki Naruto!" he said again with pride in his voice.

Before Naruto could move, Sasuke stood up from his desk "What! This is not possible, how could this clan-less fool be higher than me a Uchiha! I demand you change the ranking and give me the tittle of rookie of the year!" he said with rage.

Before Iruka could put the arrogant fool in his place, Naruto stood up "Dude you're seriously messed up, did the beating earlier gave you amnesia or something? I scored higher than you in weapon accuracy and obviously in Taijutsu. Our written exam results should be pretty close and Ninjutsu proficiency is the same too since I doubt any of us failed any of those jutsus ..." said the blond.

As Sasuke went to reply again with a scowl on his face, Naruto cut him by saying: "Well I feel generous today and I'll humor you, how about a spar to set in stone who the rookie of this year is? No move restriction, only rule is to not kill. How's that sound?"

"Fine by me Dobe" replied Sasuke.

"Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Are you sure Naruto?" replied the chunin to receive a nod from his student.

"Alright then you got 3 minutes not one second more and Hajime!" he said with a sigh.

Sasuke immediately fell into a combat stance and launched 2 shuriken in Naruto's direction.

"_Wow talk about non lethal moves ..."_ thought the blond as he easily side-stepped the incoming weapons.

Sasuke used the weapons as a distraction to immediately attack Naruto in a Taijutsu opposition.

The fight went on again like earlier with the occasional kunai or shuriken thrown by the avenger until he once again lost his patience and started to do hand-signs.

"**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu"** he said as he expelled a huge fireball in Naruto's direction.

Iruka was about to interfere to save Naruto when said blond lifted his hand in Iruka's direction telling him to stand down. The chunin complied fear in his eyes.

"_Now not to flashy but still enough to put him in his place ..."_ he thought for a second before preparing for his counter.

"_Oxygen concentration decreased by 100% in a small radius field and wind lateral speed reduced by 100% in a medium radius field for 10 seconds"_ he tough as he expelled his chakra into a field around him just small enough to cover his body for the duration of Sasuke's jutsu as the wind around him instantly stopped.

The fireball continued its course in Naruto's direction and as it reached its target, it simply dispelled itself into emptiness. This left the entire assembly wide-eyed as Naruto said "Was that supposed to do something?"

The next moment he was already behind a shocked Sasuke and delivered a powerful chop to his opponent's neck effectively taking him out.

"W-Winner Uzumaki Naruto!" said Iruka as he called the fight.

"Don't forget to come back tomorrow for team placement" he finished.

"_Well lets get back Na-chan, I'm finally a genin!"_ he said to his tenant as he left the field.

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><p><strong>AN:** What do you think of my first fighting scenes? Can you visualize them? And is the wind thing believable? Read and Review.


	4. Truth and Love

A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me.

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><p>Welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami, I am very pleased with the reviews I have so far and I am proud to announce that my story just reached the 1700+ hits, 800+ visitors and 35 favorites in its first 24 hours.<p>

English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Truth and Love<strong>

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><p><strong>Naruto's apartment<strong>

It was the night right after the genin exams and Naruto was about to go to bed. He thought about everything that had changed for him today, he was now a genin of Konoha, a protector of the Will of Fire and an adult in the eyes of the rest of the world.

This last revelation made him wonder how tonight's conversation would go with Natsuki. Thinking about the vixen made him smile, not the fake smile he usually displayed to everyone in Konoha, no this was a true smile of happiness.

The two shared a very friendly relationship, Natsuki was the only one who knew the real Naruto and since the night of the accident they shared a telepathic link that allowed them to communicate with each other through Naruto's mind.

Naruto always shared everything he had with Natsuki, well almost everything, there was this one thing that he had hidden from her, a thing that he wanted to reveal to her when he felt the time was right.

Tonight would be the time for him to tell her how he truly feels about her, tonight Naruto will confess his love to the woman who stole his heart from the moment he understood what love is.

The thought that she could reject him terrified the young blond but Natsuki always taught him to face his problems head on and to never let fear stop him from moving on with his hardships.

With those thoughts in mind he decided to call it a night and join Natsuki in his mindscape for what would be the most important conversation they had had together in all his life. He slowly closed his eyes and relaxed his mind letting sleep take over him.

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><p><strong>Mindscape<strong>

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><p>Naruto drifted into his mindscape and made his way to Natsuki's location. The mindscape had changed drastically since the first time he was there. Now instead of the chaotic desolated sewers he stood in a beautiful clearing with an average sized house in the center.<p>

He made his way inside the house to find Natsuki asleep in the couch of the living room. She wore an additional necklace that she didn't have during their first encounter, it was a beautiful silver necklace with a red ruby stone in the center, on the stone could be read the kanji for "Seal" engraved in gold characters in it.

He took a few steps forward to join her and began to slowing caress her hair. His action slowly woke her up with a smile on her face.

"Na-chan, wake up." he said slowly as he continued to run his hand through her hair.

"**Naru-kun you're here, so how does it feel to take the first step towards your dream?"** she asked as she open her eyes.

"Feels great Na-chan, today when I left the academy building I felt like I could take on the world, that nothing was impossible for me" he answered with lots of determination in his voice.

"**I'm so proud of you, I'm sure that one day you will be the light of Konoha, everyone will see you for the great and kind soul you are as I do."** She said to him.

"It's all thanks to you Na-chan, I don't know where I would be today without you with me, most likely I would still be wandering the streets aimlessly or worse ..." He said with emotion.

"I came to tell you something tonight, please let me finish before you reply, it is very important to me." He pleaded and she gave him a nod to continue.

"I don't know where to start, so I'll just say it from my heart. Na-chan I love you, I've been in love with you for a long time now and I just wanted for you to know. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I feel safe to talk about anything with you without fear. I know that I'm far from the best you could have as a boyfriend but I promise you to always be there for you and protect you with all my might until the end of time." he said to her looking straight into her eyes.

"I want you to know that I will find a way to get you out of the seal, that I promise you. Even if you don't like me back I will honor this oath I make to you." He finished and then looked to the ground nervously.

"_**If only you knew ..."**_ she thought with tears in her eyes. **"Before I give you my answer I want you to listen to me as I listened to you and do not interrupt me until I am done okay?"** she asked him to which he also gave her a nod of acceptance.

"**As you know I told you I was sealed in you the day of your birth by the Yondaime after I lost control of myself and attacked Konoha due to one man we will talk about later."**

"**What you don't know is what or more importantly where I was before all this happened. Before your birth I was sealed inside you mother my second Jinchuriki."** She said as Naruto's eyes widen at the revelation but he remained silent as he promised.

"**Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina and she was chosen to be my Jinchuriki after the last one because of her Uzumaki bloodline that made her the perfect host for me."**

"**Female Uzumaki Jinchuriki possess a bloodline that allow them to have control over the bijuu but we'll talk about that later."**

"**Unfortunately female Jinchuriki also have a weakness, childbirth. When comes the day they give birth to a child, the seal holding back the bijuu will weaken severely."**

"**The day you were born, the seal on Kushina failed and I was forced out of her body by a man with very high powers."**

"**I didn't even have the time to realize I was outside again after so long that he used a jutsu on me to cloud my mind with his hypnotic suggestion."**

"**The next thing I remember is waking up sealed inside you. So there you have it, I am the reason you are all alone in this world, feared and hated by all."** She finished her tale with tears freely flowing out of her red eyes as she waited for his reaction.

After a long time lost in his thought Naruto looked back into Natsuki's eyes "This is not what I asked you, I still want to know how you feel about me." he said.

"**Of course I love you too, you are a kind and gentle soul. Any female would be crazy not to accept your feelings, you are everything I could hope for in a mate. I was just so afraid you would hate me for my past that I couldn't bring myself to tell you about your mother until today but your confession left me with no other choice."** She answered truthfully.

"Then it doesn't change my feelings for you Na-chan. While I'm not entirely happy that you didn't tell me about my mom until today, I understand where you're coming from as I felt the same thinking about what I'd do if you didn't like me back."

"Furthermore, as you already told me the first time we met, It was not in your intention to attack Konoha that night, you were forced to do it and we WILL talk about that mysterious man later" he said with conviction in his voice to reassure her.

With nothing else holding them back anymore they slowly made their way to each other and shared their first kiss ever. The kiss was everything Naruto imagined it would be, tender at first as their lips made contact, then full of passion as she parted her lips for their tongues to collide. Naruto didn't know how long they stayed like this but he couldn't care less, nothing else in the world mattered at this moment as he wished it would forever go on.

When they finally parted, bright blue oceanic eyes stared into deep volcanic red eyes, "Natsuki Kyuubi no Yoko, this is the greatest feeling ever, I love you more than anything in this corrupted world".

"**Naruto Uzumaki, I love you too with all my heart."** She replied before she noticed he was starting to fade away.

"Looks like it's already the morning outside." said Naruto sadly as he felt himself being pulled out of his mindscape.

"**I'll see you soon Naru-kun, don't be late for your team placement today."** She said as he finally left his mindscape.

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><p><strong>Back in Naruto's room<strong>

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><p>Naruto woke up with the biggest smile ever on his face. He never felt so alive even when he was learning incredible wind jutsu during his training years. He did his morning ritual and prepared his ninja equipment for the day. Once done he left via <strong>Shunshin<strong> after locking the door.

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><p><strong>Konoha's Academy<strong>

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><p>Naruto made his way to his usual desk and waited patiently for Iruka and Mizuki to arrive when he suddenly remembered about the silver haired chunin instructor.<p>

"_Mizuki! I totally forgot about that bastard! I should have gone to the old man yesterday!"_ tough the blond before he saw the door to the classroom open and Iruka enter with lots of bandages on his face.

"Iruka-sensei what happened to your face and where's Mizuki?" he refused to call someone "sensei" if they didn't deserved it.

Iruka took a thinking pose to decide what he could tell his students before speaking "I'm sorry to say this to you all who knew Mizuki, but yesterday he was found red-handed trying to steal the forbidden scroll of Konoha's Kinjutsu by a patrol. I was the one who located him the first before he could leave Konoha's walls and I stopped him, that's why I got these injuries but the scroll is safe and Mizuki has been taken into custody." replied the instructor before he added.

"Lets make this my final lesson to all of you, in a shinobi's life today's ally could very well be tomorrow's opponent and vice and versa." He said with seriousness in his voice.

"Well lets get this done now, shall we ?" Continued Iruka.

"Now the team placement will be the following:"

"Team one: ..." Naruto dozed off until he started to hear names of those he considered having a chance to make it past genin.

"Team seven: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Aburame Shino. Your jonin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." announced Iruka as Naruto knew what was coming as he block his ear ways and could still hear, mind you in an audible volume, Sakura shouting to the heavens about Love winning or something like that.

Shino was as expressive as ever and Sasuke kept on glaring at him for some reason _"Must still be mad at me about the fight of yesterday and not being the rookie of the year"_ thought Naruto.

"**Thank god we're not with him, It would have been the recipe for a disaster."** Said Natsuki as she made her presence known.

"Y-You're awake Na-chan !" said Naruto still blushing at yesterday's events.

"**Love you too, Naru-kun !"** said the vixen in a playful manner knowing how to push the right buttons to embarrass her host.

"Team eight: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto, you jonin sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai." Said Iruka pulling Naruto out of his musing.

"_So Kiba was the dead-last of this year. " _Thought Naruto. _"Well at least he's not a complete retard as the Uchiha and Hinata seems capable enough if she just gained some more confidence"_

"_Kurenai is the genjutsu mistress of Konoha, surely I will be able to test my resistance to genjutsu with her as a teacher that's great what do you think Na-chan?"_

"**Yes that's great, I feel that we can expect her to treat you fairly from what the report we read about her said about her professionalism and her caring attitude."** Replied Natsuki.

"Team nine is still active from last year." Continued Iruka.

"Team ten: Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino, your jonin sensei is Sarutobi Asuma." Said Iruka as he finished his announce.

"_So they decided to reform the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho team with their children without even considering their current relationship with each other, that's pretty stupid. Well Shikamaru and Chouji will do fine together but I don't see Ino fitting in that team any time soon." _Thought Naruto analyzing team ten's potential.

"That's all, stay here until your sensei comes to get you and good luck for your future career, I am proud to have been your sensei." Said Iruka as he left the classroom.

Naruto felt a little sad that he would see Iruka a lot less from now on since he had been the only fair teacher to him during his academy days. His mind refocused as the first jonin made their entry inside the classroom.

A beautiful woman in her twenties made her way inside with the Hokage's son Sarutobi Asuma as Naruto recognized the man for having seen him numerous time with the old man as he visited him in the past.

"I am Yuhi Kurenai, jonin sensei for team eight. Please follow me to training ground number eight." She said as she started to leave the room.

Naruto looked at Kiba and Hinata shrugging his shoulders before he decided to follow his new teacher for what would be a new chapter of his life.

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><p><strong>AN: **No action this time, lots of fluffiness. I felt it was important to begin to stir their relation in the right direction. Now I'm not saying they will have sex with each other right of the bat and I don't even have the confidence to right a lemon for now. Plus Naruto still got the physical body of a twelve year old teenager. I guess it will happen when it will happen.

For you action fans don't worry next chapter will be the genin's real admission test then we'll get into the missions and you will see more of Naruto's true strength as the Kaze No Kami.

Read & review please, I'll try to answer to every reviewers at least once :)


	5. Friendship and Trust

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I will try to make a general response to some review I had asking for Naruto to show off more skills or for his relationship with Natsuki to move on to the next level.<p>

I'm trying to have my story cover every key part of the "classic" Naruto timeline while giving enough modification to the content to be linked to my main themes being Naruto master of the wind and his relationship with Natsuki.

I would run out of idea if I showed too much too soon and I don't think it would make Naruto's progress in skill or in love believable.

Without further delay, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Friendship and Trust<strong>

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><p><strong>Training ground 8<strong>

The newly formed team eight just arrived at their destination, training ground eight following their jonin instructor Yuhi Kurenai.

Kurenai was a beautiful woman with long black curly hair and red eyes, she wore customized clothes and she had an aura of maturity despite her young age for a jonin.

"Welcome and congratulations on becoming real ninjas to you three" she said "You already know my name but let's introduce ourselves properly" she finished.

"My name is Yuhi Kurenai, I like training to perfect my genjutsu skills, passing time with my best friend Anko and eating Dango. I dislike perverts, arrogant and sexists people. My dream for the future is to teach you all to reach your full potential as ninjas and for me to be one day recognized as the best genjutsu user in the elemental nations." she said before giving a nod to Hinata to go on.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata, I like my family and learning my family taijutsu style, my dislike are the same as sensei and my dream is to reunite my family into a family with no distinction between main and branch members."she said hesitantly and stuttering a little.

Kiba knew he was next and began "My name is Inuzuka Kiba, and here is my companion Akamaru, I like my family and learning my family jutsu, I dislike fan-girls, arrogant pricks who think they are better than anyone and people who disrespects animals and my dream is to be a good clan head in the future." Naruto nodded as he thought that Kiba was a good guy behind all his idiocy.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like training and reading, I dislike arrogant ignorant people and my dream for the future is to become the strongest Hokage ever and protect everyone in Konoha even those who don't deserve it." he said to his team.

Kurenai then explained to them that they had to pass her test in order to truly become genin, she hold out two bells from her pouch and told them they would need to get the bells from her in order to pass the test and that obviously at least one of them would fail and get sent back to the academy.

She then gave them the signal to start as she disappeared in a swirl of leaves into the forest.

Kiba and Hinata were about to rush into the forest when Naruto called them back.

"Guys wait, it's a trap we have to work together to get those bells." he said to them.

"How do you know Naruto?" asked Kiba while Hinata stayed silent and blushing a bit at being called by her crush.

"Have you ever heard of a one man cell or even a two man cell?" he asked them "Yea me neither, Konoha policy is to promote teamwork and I think this is a test to see if we could perform up to their standard" continued Naruto.

His teammates were surprised that Naruto who never stood out during the academy days was so good to read behind the mission objectives. Kiba did not have a problem with working as a team since his family motto was to work for the good of the pack before all. Hinata saw the truth in his words and decided to follow them.

As they ran into the forest in a single line formation they spotted several traps and evaded them all, the formation idea was surprisingly Kiba's idea, the logic behind it was good too thought Naruto.

Hinata went first with her Byakugan, she spotted all traps left by Kurenai but also could see right through their sensei's genjutsu traps too.

Naruto was in the center as they recalled his perfect score in weapon accuracy he would be the perfect one to launch counter attacks once a threat has been identified.

Kiba took the rear guard using his enhanced sense of smell and hearing he could prevent attacks from behind the team.

Kurenai was impressed as she saw the newly assembled genin work so well together as they were evading her traps and following her in the forest. She then decided to increase the difficulty and made her presence known as she started to change her strategy.

Hinata suddenly stopped running signaling there was a problem, "I can still see sensei but there's a problem" she said. "Sensei chakra signature is now coming from four directions and I can't tell which one is the real one with my Byakugan"

"I can't tell them apart either, they all smell the same" added Kiba.

"Okay I've got a plan listen to me" said Naruto to his team as he began to explain to his teammates his plan to beat Kurenai's Kage Bunshins.

The moment Kurenai and her clones arrived, coming from all the cardinal directions around the spot where her team was supposed to have stopped, a trap was heard and several smoke bombs went off. The area was soon covered with smoke.

When the smoke cleared out after a short time, Kurenai came face to face with seven other "Kurenai" in the clearing where she should have found her team and only three of her doppelgangers.

Now she knew three of them were her clones and she thought for a moment to dispel them all to know who to target specifically but decided against it for two reasons, first is because it would weaken her advantage against the "fakes" who would then in turn all decide to attack her at the same time, and second is because she found their strategy remarkable and wanted to see if their plan had something else after the surprise effect they just displayed against her.

More over she found a hole in their plan, if even she could not find who was a fake and who was a clone in those seven, so how could the genin. They shouldn't know either who to target after the smoke screen cleared.

Then all of a sudden four "Kurenai" charged at the remaining ones, including the real Kurenai who obviously faced one of her genin henged into her, in a four two versus two taijutsu spars.

Upon first contact, all of the attacking "Kurenai" changed back into Hinata, Kiba, a Kiba-Henged Akamaru and finally Naruto with Naruto being the one who faced the real Kurenai.

Now even though she was a genjutsu specialist, it didn't mean she could not hold her own in taijutsu, plus having the snake mistress of Konoha as a sparring partner helped a lot in that aspect knowing that Anko was a master of the very deadly Snake taijutsu style.

Hinata and Kiba were no slouch either as their style were heavily based on their family very powerful taijutsu. Her clones did overpower the genin after some time but did not have enough chakra left to amount to anything more so they dispelled themselves.

Akamaru was not that lucky as he was quickly taken out by his cloned opponent.

That only left one Naruto slightly winded after facing the real one and two Kurenai on the field.

The real Kurenai smirked in advance at her imminent victory though she decided that she would pass this team anyway with the teamwork they displayed it was enough for her even if they didn't get the bells.

She did not expect her clone to suddenly throw a bunch of kunai and shuriken in her direction, narrowly escaping the projectiles, she landed a few meters backwards but a sudden white and yellow blur caught her attention _"He's fast!"_ she thought before the impact.

She took a clean hit into her sternum section and was thrown back sliding to the ground for a few meters. She stood up holding her stomach and ready to use some high level genjutsu to slow Naruto down when he smirked at her holding up two bells in his right hand.

"I think we win, sensei" said Naruto with a grin on his face.

She was astonished as she didn't even felt him taking out the bells. Deciding to try a final test and seeing as the other two were out she said to him "Very impressive Naruto, I didn't expect the clone facing Akamaru to be one of yours and not mine"

"Thanks sensei" answered Naruto as Akamaru stood up from his fake unconscious state and rejoined his master who really was unconscious.

"How did you and the others know who was a clone of mine and not a henged teammate during before the fight?" asked Kurenai.

"Easy sensei, first I took out Akamaru's opponent during the confusion and then ..." answered Naruto as he made his Kurenai clone hold out her hand, it had some kind of marking written with a pen or something and then he made it dispelled.

"Very clever, you win, now choose who you will give the last bell to Naruto and who will be sent back to the academy" asked Kurenai.

Naruto seemed to think for a moment what to reply to her when he took the bells and threw one near Hinata and the other to Kiba.

"It was a team effort to take those bells from you sensei, even if I am the last one standing I choose not to abandon my comrades." he said with determination in his eyes.

Hinata and Kiba chose this moment to wake up and their respect for the blond grew tenfold after hearing his words and the fact that he didn't profit from their unconscious state to go ahead and claim a bell for himself.

Kurenai also was impressed and with a smile on her face announced "Team 8, it is my pleasure to say that you all passed my test for the genin admission application" with pride in her eyes.

"Yahoo! Do you hear that buddy we passed!" shouted Kiba as he took Akamaru in his arms.

Hinata just smiled and thought that maybe her father would be impressed with her for once.

Naruto felt pride too, he never knew that teamwork could be so fulfilling, he knew that he could have probably gone alone against Kurenai but having shared this moment with his teammates made it more impressive to him.

"That is all for today good job team eight, meet me here tomorrow at nine and we will begin our missions" she dismissed her team but quickly called Naruto back.

"Naruto would you come with me to the Hokage tower please, I think there are things we need to discuss" she said in a tone that clearly showed that 'no' was not an option.

He gave her a nod and followed after her as his teammates made their way back to their home.

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><p><strong>Hokage tower – Hokage office<strong>

As Kurenai was about to knock on the Hogake office's door, Naruto simply kicked the door open and went inside.

"Hey there Jiji, long time no see I'm a shinobi of the leaf now!" exclaimed Naruto as he saw Sarutobi behind his desk.

"That I see my boy, congratulations it seems you're one step further to take my hat Naruto" replied the old man.

"Anyway what are you doing here surely you didn't come here just to tell me that, I am the one who made the team arrangement after all and I already knew that you passed the exams" continued the old shinobi.

"Actually Hokage-sama I am the one who called Naruto here" said a still shocked Kurenai at the display of familiarity between her student and the man called the Shinobi No Kami.

Naruto was starting to get nervous at the reason why Kurenai wanted to bring him here.

"During our fight to determine if Naruto and his teammates had what it takes to be real Konoha ninja, Naruto here displayed some impressive skills, I would even go as far to say that those skills were too impressive." she continued.

Naruto was cursing in his head, he did show too much during the fight and Kurenai was no chunin instructor with no field experience, she knew when she saw real power in a fight.

Kurenai described to the Hokage how the fight went on, Naruto's use of Kage Bunshin to fool her in the final confrontation and the last move he performed to hit her which was from what she could tell well beyond genin or even chunin in terms of power and speed.

After that, a long pause went on until Sarutobi said "Naruto please tell me how you could perform the Kage Bunshin, and what that last move was and don't forget anything" the old man had a look in his eyes that told Naruto that lies would not be well accepted.

Naruto took a long breath, closed his eyes and then nodded.

"You may want to make sure the room is secured Jiji, what I will tell you will rock your world and in the wrong ears could prove to become a hassle for Konoha." announced the blond.

Sarutobi's eyes widened at this since he never saw Naruto so serious before and quickly made hand signs to secure his office from prying ears.

Once done he motioned for Naruto to speak, "It all started six years ago, the night I was attacked ..." began Naruto.

He told them everything, his encounter with Natsuki, his training with her for the last six years, the general content of said training, how he knew of his mother Kushina and with that the reason why the Kyuubi attacked twelve years ago.

Sarutobi was at first scared that the Kyuubi was somehow manipulating the young ninja, but the facts that Naruto came up with during his tale made him believe in the blond when he said that Natsuki was trustworthy. He also felt a great fear at the mention of a man capable of controlling the Kyuubi. Finally he knew that he would have to tell Naruto soon about his father too. He just hoped Jiraya would be there too to help him announce the news to Naruto.

Kurenai for her part was impressed at what Naruto had to endure during his life up to now, she was also sad to learn that Naruto was the son of her late sensei Kushina and that she had not been able to help the boy when he needed it in his childhood. She made a silent promise to help the young man in front of her from now on and maybe teach him a thing or two about his mother.

"So Jiji, sensei, am I in trouble?" asked Naruto.

"No Naruto you are not, even tough I would have preferred for you to come to me and tell me everything sooner, I can understand that you have trust issues with people after what you've been through." replied the sandaime.

"I understand too why you did not reveal everything you could do during our fight Naruto, and I'm not mad at you. We will have to talk about what you can do though in order for the team to function properly. While we are on the revelations, I can tell you that your mother was my jonin sensei when I was a genin, I would be honored to tell you about her if you wish after this." replied Kurenai.

Naruto was relieved, he never liked to lie to the old man and he felt that he could now trust Kurenai too as she was a student to his mother.

"That would be all for now, the genin official papers will be ready before the end of the day and I will see you Kurenai and your team tomorrow for your first mission." announced the Hokage before dismissing them.

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><p><strong>Naruto's apartment<strong>

Naruto made it to his apartment and opened a link with Natsuki "Do you think I made the right choice to tell them everything Na-chan?"

"**Only time will tell us Naru-kun but I think they are trustworthy"** replied Natsuki.

"I guess you're right I'm a bit winded from today's fight and revelations, I'm calling it a night" said Naruto as he fell asleep.

**Hokage Tower – Mission Hall**

A month had passed since the genin exams, Naruto and team 8 had done their fair share of D-ranked missions.

"Ah team 8, you will be pleased that I have a C-ranked mission for you, if Kurenai here thinks you are ready of course" exclaimed Sarutobi.

"My team is ready Hokage-sama" replied Kurenai with pride. Teamwork with her team was flawless as she had Hinata loose her crush on Naruto and Kiba focus more during fights.

"Alright then, team 7 was in the middle of their first C-ranked mission to wave country when they encountered more resistance than the mission parameters. Protocol would have wanted for the senior officer Hatake Kakashi to withdraw from the mission and pull back his team but it seems he "let" his genin decide if they should continue the mission or not.

"Needless to say the Uchiha wanted to continue to prove to the world that he is the best" anticipated Naruto with a nod from Kiba and a bark from Akamaru.

"That is correct" replied Sarutobi, before adding "However genin Aburame Shino had the presence to send one of his familiar back to warn some relatives who in turn warned me about these new developments." continued the Hokage.

"Looking at their opposition, I think that it is safe to say that they will need reinforcement for their mission. That's why team 8 will deploy in one hour to join them in wave to complete their mission. Kurenai will assume leadership over the operation once your team joins team 7, is that clear?"

"Yes Hokage-sama" replied Kurenai.

"Then dismissed and good luck" finished the old man as team 8 left for their first real mission.

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><p><strong>AN:**

What do you think? No new wind specific moves during this chapter but I found it interesting to use Naruto strategy to beat Kiba in the classic Naruto chunin exams during this fight with tweaks :)

Wanted to do wave a little differently than classic with team 8 as the back up for team 7. Expect some funny moments when the two teams meet.

Read and Review please.


	6. Diamond in the Rough

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I am amazed at the diversity of the place where all my readers come from, The States being first by far but there are other countries as well from almost every continent as Nigeria, Uruguay, Romania, Hong Kong, South Africa, Mexico, … . You guys are awesome and I hope you enjoy my work so far :)<p>

To please the people who asked I will show more of Naruto's skill in this chapter :)

Without further delay, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: A Diamond in the Rough<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha's forest<strong>

Team 8 was running through Konoha's woods moving from tree to tree. Kurenai had explained the importance of chakra control to her students during their first month of training.

Naruto already knew and mastered both tree walking and water walking exercises.

Hinata could do both in a week while it took Kiba the double amount of time to perform them correctly.

Kurenai decided to find out what her students elemental affinities were after her discussion with Naruto about his current skills.

_Flashback: Morning after team 8 evaluation test – Training ground 8_

Naruto promised Kurenai he would explain to her the extend of his powers, they decided to meet the following morning after the revelations he made to her and the old man.

It was seven in the morning when he arrived in his team training ground, Kurenai was already there waiting for him with two other people, two females considering their build from what he could see from afar.

The first one had long flowing purple hairs and she wore the whole ANBU equipment gear but without a mask. She had a beautiful Katana strapped to her back.

The second one had shorter purple hair tied in a pineapple style hairstyle which reminded him of Shikamaru's. She wore a tan trench coat, mesh clothes that did not leave much to imagination with a brown mini-skirt. She was playing with a kunai in her hands.

"Good morning Kurenai-sensei" called Naruto as he made it to them.

"Good morning Naruto, theses two here are my best friends" she said showing the two other persons on the field.

"The one with the sword is Uzuki Yugao, she works for the ANBU corps as you can see by her gears though I won't be more specific since their identities is supposed to stay a secret for everyone's protection" She said about her first friend. "The other one is Mitarashi Anko, she works for the T&I department" she finished the introductions.

"It's a pleasure to meet sensei's friends, I am Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha" replied Naruto with conviction.

"He's so cute Nai-chan! Can I eat him?" said Anko to the ire of Kurenai and the amusement of Yugao.

"Don't pay attention to her Naruto, I called them here today to help me evaluate your skills as we agreed on and of course with the permission of Hokage-sama" said Kurenai as Naruto took a step back in fear of the psychotic woman.

"Yugao here will evaluate your kenjutsu while Anko will test your taijutsu, I will test your genjutsu prowess and finally we will all see about your ninjutsu after that." explained Kurenai before adding "but remember this time no holding back"

"Hai sensei" answered Naruto before falling in his kenjutsu stance taking a kunai in each hand in a reversed grip while facing Yugao who took her katana out.

The ANBU operator looked at him with a raised eyebrow before asking " I thought you told Kurenai you had a great mastery over swords, don't you have anything with a longer reach to face me?"

Naruto chuckled at her question and prepared himself for the spar.

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><p><strong>Naruto vs Yugao<strong>

"**_Futon: Futago Kaze Ken no jutsu"_** he thought in his mind before the air around his kunai in each hand seemed to blur out, almost taking solid form but still transparent.

"Try me Yugao-san, maybe I will be the first one to draw blood you never know" he said with a smirk.

"Very well Naruto-san, here I come" she said as she ran to him in a burst of speed.

"So fast!" said Naruto as he was barely able to block her katana with both his kunai in a cross guard.

Yugao was a lot faster than the current Naruto, her hits were aimed at vital areas even though Naruto knew she would stop her blade before cutting him too deeply.

"_No other choice"_ thought Naruto before preparing for a new move.

"**_Futon: Kaze no Yoroi"_** he called in his mind as he felt the wind fill his body.

He was finally able to catch up to her in speed and got on the offensive for the first time in their spar.

As Naruto approached her, Yugao calculated that she still had 5 seconds before she would be within his reach. She was definitely impressed with his stance as he was able to block her hits and allowed almost no opening in his guard.

"_His speed is nothing to laugh at either as he was somehow able to follow my movements after some time during the fight"_ she thought as she prepared to launch a counter, timing herself precisely with the estimated time she calculated just before.

She was not prepared however as Naruto made his move ahead of what she estimated and her guard was not ready for that.

Naruto was able to cut her just above the stomach area, not too deeply, just enough for her to realize that had he wait for a split second more to make his move, it would have most likely been a killing hit.

Yugao hold her arms up to signal the end of the spar "Incredible! So this is the secret behind your kunai" she said to him.

"Yes Yugao-san, I named it **Futon: Futago Kaze Ken no jutsu** it uses my wind chakra to extend the reach of any weapon I wield for offensive purposes. I can't use it to block physical attacks yet but it grants me a great surprise attack the first time I may use it against an opponent and it is still very difficult to read my reach with it even knowing about the technique" answered the blond.

"Amazing your control over the wind element is astonishing for you to perform such a feat with a regular kunai. Sarutobi Asuma uses special forged weapon to conduct chakra in the same manner as you do but in his version I can still read his reach. I suppose it is not 100% pure wind chakra that he channels in his weapons." she said analyzing his style.

"Well after this spar I can say that your kenjutsu is currently at high jonin level borderline ANBU. You still leave some openings in your guard and you may want to challenge what weapon you really need to use with your style, your offensive potential is amazing but you are currently lacking in the defensive ability, come look for me anytime you need help with your kenjutsu for a spar or advices" she said to him in a professional tone.

"I am honored that you would think so highly of my skills Yugao-sensei and I will most certainly come to see you in the future" he said to her with a bow as they went back to Kurenai and Anko.

"That was impressive Gaki! I can't wait for my turn now!" yelled Anko.

"Okay ..." said Naruto with a sweat-drop before asking for a short recess to catch his breath.

After a five minutes break he signaled to Anko that he was ready.

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><p><strong>Naruto vs Anko<strong>

"First one to yield or loose consciousness is the looser" announced Anko.

"Okay Anko-san, I'm ready" replied Naruto as he fell in his Kitsune taijutsu style. This style consisted of constant foot work to allow fast mobility and fast counter reaction, Naruto also had his upper guard with his hands in a open palm stance.

Anko charged at him with amazing speed and launched a barrage of punch and kicks aimed at his vital organs.

He had to immediately activate his **Kaze no Yoroi** to be able to resist her charge.

The fight was pretty even for 2 minutes before Anko decided to increase the difficulty,

"**Sen'ei Jashu" **she called as numerous snakes came out of her sleeves and locked themselves around Naruto's limb effectively immobilizing him.

"_So this is the Hebi taijutsu style"_ thought Naruto surprised as she completely stopped his movements.

"Is that all you got Gaki? I was just starting to warm up" she said to him with a big grin on her face.

"_Now to get out of this"_ he thought for a moment before sending wind chakra to his palms _**"Futon: Kazekiri"**_ he called the jutsu in his mind. As with the kunai earlier, this time the area around his hands began to blur radiating transparent smoke.

He easily trashed the snakes biding him in a shower of blood before he used his next move that he already showed against Sasuke _**"Kitsune Yuurei no Jutsu"**_ he said in his mind before four series of after images left his current position and raced to a surprised Anko in four different path, coming at her from both sides and from behind and frontally.

He used a lot more chakra than against Sasuke with this version as the previous one only used a one straight path to the front of the avenger.

Anko could see the four ghosts coming at her in high speed leaving after images in their path but she had no way of knowing which one was the real one and before she could even realize what was happening she saw that Naruto stopped to her left with his Kazekiri ready to piece her heart.

"Alright I yield Gaki you win, that was a great fight and I feel all excited behind my coat" she said to him with a smirk making him take a step back blushing madly and almost tripping himself.

"Hentai!" he yelled as he tried to regain his balance under the amused eyes of the other females.

"Okay so I'll say you are currently easily high jonin level in taijutsu, borderline ANBU as your kenjutsu."

"I ought to warn you though that the last move you displayed while amazing may turn into a weakness for you in the future should you use it against Kage level taijutsu fighters or highly skilled doujutsu wielders as the Byukugan or the Sharingan."

"Charging at a high speed like this while also focusing on your other illusions will lessen your field of vision and opponents who can move faster than you or those who wield doujutsu who can tell which one of those illusions is real will easily be able to counter you."

"Thanks for the lesson and the spar Anko-sensei, I am honored that you think so highly of my skill." he said as he also bowed to her.

"Alright, alright stop with the formalities. Come find me if you need help with your taijutsu" said Anko with a smile.

"I will, thanks" he replied also with a smile.

"Very impressive Naruto" said Kurenai with pride in her voice looking at her student.

"I believe it's my time to see how well you do against genjutsu" she continued but was cut by Naruto.

"Ano …, my wind chakra control may be good but my chakra control in general is not, I have never been able to perform genjutsu and I don't think I would be able to resist anything you would throw to me at the moment." he said embarrassed, scratching the back of his head.

"It's okay Naruto you are still a genin, I was just swept in the moment thinking all your skills would be on par with those you've previously shown." She said smiling to him to cheer him up.

"Okay so how will we test my ninjutsu sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Well I don't think we have time for more spars today and I've seen a lot of what you can do already. Just show me one of your best wind jutsu." She said to him.

He gave her a nod and mentally called for his next jutsu while extending his palms towards the forest.

"_**Futon: Furyudan no Jutsu"**_ as he visualized a large tree near them a huge dragon made of wind left his palms and completely annihilated the tree and everything behind it in its passage.

"_Incredible!"_ thought Kurenai watching the damages done by the jutsu.

"_The chakra and wind control requirements for that jutsu must be astonishing"_ analyzed Yugao.

"_This Gaki is going to go far"_ Anko thought as she felt the wind dragon power, as if it could shake the whole forest in its path.

"Good, that's enough Naruto" finally said Kurenai.

"I can say that overall you are currently at least at tokubetsu jonin level. You would be jonin level if you can fix your genjutsu problem or at least find a way to counter them if you can't make them. You would also be required to develop an affinity to a second element, but that's alright for now you are still a diamond in the rough, but I know where I need to train you on." summarized Kurenai.

"The rest will come with training and experience Naruto, you have talent, you can believe me when I say that, I grew up with people like Uchiha Itachi or Hatake Kakashi, I know you have what it takes to one day surpass them all" Said Yugao.

"Are you sure I still can't eat him now Nai-chan?" asked Anko with a smirk as everyone else sweat-dropped at her antics.

With that Kurenai's two friends left the field, leaving Naruto and Kurenai waiting for the rest of team 8 to arrive.

_End of flashback_

After that Kurenai made her report to the Hokage and both decided that Naruto should limit himself to use the most basic and discrete moves he knew as to not arise suspicion against him.

Sarutobi theorized that should the knowledge of Naruto having a bloodline comparable to the Nidaime Hokage's ability to control Water, except Naruto's being a wind one, if that became public knowledge, numerous enemies would try to harm him.

From the inside of the village, the civilian council would call for the death of the demon manifesting Kyuubi's demonic powers while the elders would force Naruto to become breeding material effectively ending his shinobi career.

From the outside of the village, assassination attempts would arise or kidnapping would also be a possibility.

Naruto shivered at the thought of all those threats and swiftly agreed with his sensei and Jiji that he should reserve his strongest moves only when the time comes to protect his most important people.

Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts as they finally made it to wave country. Naruto had already seen Konoha's worse districts during his childhood but what he saw in wave country was a lot worse.

They were about to ask direction to find Tazuna's house when Hinata saw a mop of bubblegum pink hair and a duck ass shaped black hair teen at the far end of the village. She signaled her team and they all made their way towards that direction.

"We're finally there, let's get this C-ranked mission started" said Naruto as his group arrived in front of Tazuna's house where Hinata saw members of team 7 enter a little while ago.

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><p><strong>AN: **So what do you think of this chapter? It was not part of the original event of canon Naruto and I made up some jutsu that will compose Naruto future arsenal.

I hope you enjoy what Naruto can do with his Wind for now even though there are still things I left out for later. You can also see/guess what can be upgraded in the moves he showed.

Stay tuned for the next chapter and as usual Read & Review please ;)

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><p>I will also try to put the new jutsu I used at the end of each chapter from now on.<p>

**Futon: Futago Kaze Ken no jutsu** : Twin wind blades, Naruto uses his wind chakra to increase the reach of his weapons. Used the term twin since he used it with both hand for 2 kunai

**Futon: Kaze no Yoroi** : Wind Armor activation, Naruto sends wind chakra through his body to increase his speed and reduce wind resistance to his movements.

**Futon: Kazekiri** : Wind edge, Naruto's variation of Kakashi's Raikiri, personally I don't get how lightning could help in increasing the penetration power of Kakashi's hand, makes much more sense when applied to wind.

**Kitsune Yuurei no Jutsu** : Fox apparition, Naruto's taijutsu move, a highly developed application of the simple bunshin no jutsu. Creates a bunch of after-images to confuse his opponents.

**Futon: Furyudan no Jutsu** : Wind Dragon, Creates a dragon made of wind slashing everything in the path the user decides according his control.


	7. Birth of a Legend

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I'm not that fast with the chapter releases during the week since well everyone's got to work sometimes :)<p>

I'm glad people seemed pleased with the abilities I showed last chapter for Naruto. Now let's get back with the story original timeline.

Without further delay, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: The Birth of a Legend<strong>

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><p><strong>Wave Country – Tazuna's house<strong>

Kurenai knocked at the door from the house Hinata saw team 7 enter and ten seconds later a woman opened the door.

"Yes? How may I help you miss?" she asked politely to Kurenai.

"Are you related to Tazuna the bridge builder mam?" said Kurenai.

"Yes, I'm his daughter" replied Tsunami as she took notice of team 8's leaf headbands.

"We are team 8 of Konoha sent in reinforcement for the remaining of this mission, may I speak with the other team leader please?" Kurenai added.

"Yes of course please come in" said Tsunami as she let team 8 go inside the house.

When team 8 made their way inside the house, they saw Kakashi and the rest of team 7 in the living room. The cyclops was reading an orange book, Shino was sitting at a table keeping company to a young boy, Sakura was fawning over Sasuke and finally Sasuke was, well he was doing nothing but looking out the window with a scowl on his face.

Seeing them enter Kakashi stood up from the couch he was comfortably sitting in, "What are you doing here with your team Kurenai?" he asked visibly surprised by their arrival.

"I need to speak with you privately Kakashi, can we step out of the house for a minute or two?" replied the red eyed jonin.

"Sure let's go" answered Kakashi and they both went back outside the house.

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><p><strong>Outside the house<strong>

As soon as they were both outside the house, Kurenai handed Kakashi a scroll with the Hokage seal on it and explained to him the situation and how she was put in command of the mission for the remaining of the mission.

Kakashi was not pleased but there was little he could do about it, the message he received from inside the scroll was clear and effectively gave Kurenai full authority over him on the mission.

"Very well you're in charge Kurenai" he finally said after giving her back the scroll.

"Good, let's go back inside. I need you to explain to me what happened from when you and your team left Konoha to the moment team 8 entered in this house." said Kurenai as she made her way back inside Tazuna's house.

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><p><strong>Meanwhile inside the house<strong>

"Hey there team 7 how's it going?" asked Kiba in a friendly manner.

"What are you and your looser team doing here dog breath?" said Sasuke as Sakura followed after him.

Kiba chose to ignore the Sasuke much to the prick's ire and his banshee.

"We've been here training for a week since we had to fight that missing nin from Kirigakure Inuzuka-san" replied the only polite member of team 7.

"I already told you to call me Kiba, Shino" answered the Inuzuka heir.

Naruto's ears perked up at the mention of a fight and meeting missing nins "Who was the missing nin? Was he strong? What move did he use?"

As Naruto was pestering Shino with his questions, the door of the house opened again and Kurenai made her way back inside the room followed by Kakashi.

"As a matter of fact Naruto, I was just about to let Kakashi here debrief me about the situation of the mission. Why don't we all get comfortable and listen to his report?" said Kurenai more like an order than a question.

Each members of team 8 took a seat at the table and let Kakashi give his report about the mission.

He told them about how between Konoha and Wave Country they were first ambushed by the demon brothers, two missing nin from Kiri with chunin ranks. The fight was not impressive as Shino and Sasuke quickly took them out.

Kurenai's eyes widened when Kakashi mentioned Momochi Zabuza, missing nin from Kiri with jonin rank. She explained to her team that we was a old member of Kirigakure elite swordsmen and the rumors about him murdering all his graduating class fellow students.

Naruto wasn't impressed by tittle or ranks, he knew ranks did not always reveal a ninja's worth, hell he just had to compare himself to Sakura, they were both genin and he probably could find more than a hundred ways to kill her in his sleep.

What impressed Naruto was the fight in itself between team 7 and the Kirigakure No Kijin.

_Flashback: Wave country border – One week ago_

_Team 7 just arrived in Wave when Shino suddenly launched one of his kunai in the direction of the woods._

_Turned out he only spotted a stray rabbit but seconds later Kakashi suddenly ordered everyone to take cover as a giant flying sword made its towards them. They narrowly escaped the sword, when they looked up they saw the culprit._

_In front of them stood Momochi Zabuza, the Kirigakure No Kijin._

_Team 7 quickly took position around Tazuna and Kakashi engaged the demon of the mist._

_The fight was pretty even up to the point where Kakashi got trapped in one of Zabuza's suiton jutsu._

_Kakashi ordered team 7 to retreat with Tazuna but Sasuke and Sakura stood there unable to move as Zabuza made some mizu bunshins and flared his KI in their direction. The two just fainted after seconds of exposure._

_Seeing this Shino suddenly took Tazuna with him and ran backwards towards Fire country._

_Zabuza had to applaud the young man for staying conscious and having the clarity to continue protect his client while under high stress. Nevertheless he had a job to do and used his closest clone to run after them through the mist he created to fight Kakashi._

_He easily caught up with them and as he used his enormous cleaver to cut the two, he got surprised as his two targets exploded in a cloud of bugs._

"_**Mushi Bunshin no jutsu"** called Shino as stepped out of behind a tree._

"_Impressive, boy" admitted Zabuza before adding "It doesn't change the fact that you will soon die"_

_He was about to charge again when all his clone dispelled._

"_It seems you didn't notice my trap, you underestimated me Zabuza-san" said shino as hundreds of his bugs were seen swarming around the spots where the Zabuza clones stood seconds ago._

"_Your mist jutsu was a nice cover for my plan" finished Shino as he launched a dozen shuriken towards the true Zabuza who was still holding Kakashi with his jutsu._

_Zabuza had no choice but to release his jutsu, effectively allowing Kakashi to resume their fight._

_After that Kakashi quicky took the advantage, Zabuza having wasted a lot of chakra to create his water clones. The fight's ending was quite anti climatic as a hunter nin made his appearance and took the kill, though Kakashi explained that it was probably an act from one of Zabuza's back-up._

_End of flashback_

"That was a really impressive strategy you used Shino, you saved all your team and Tazuna's life with your action" said Kurenai.

Every member of team 8 had to agree with their sensei while Sasuke was fuming with jealousy, he an Uchiha had to watch from the side lines as a lowly bug user took all the glory.

"Thank you Kurenai-sensei, I did the best I could" answered Shino.

"Alright Kakashi, tell me where you are with your team training, what are their affinity and how many jutsu do they have." asked Kurenai.

The cyclops began to sweat as he looked at his team "Hmm, I only know that Sasuke has a fire affinity and I just started them on the tree walking exercise today ..." he finally answered.

"WHAT! You had them for more than a month and you only started the tree walking exercise today? In hostile territory and with at least one jonin level opponent after your ass?" shouted Kurenai with anger and disgust in her voice.

Kakashi could only nod at the crude by pretty accurate description of the situation.

"Alright … I can't use them, well maybe except for Shino here but the rest will stay here and protect Tazuna's family with you while my team and I will protect Tazuna on the bridge until it is completed." declared Kurenai.

"How dare you treat me like that woman! I'm a Uchiha I deman..." Sasuke was about to continue his rant when Hinata suddenly appeared in front of him and hit some of his pressure points, instantly preventing him from saying another word.

"It would be best for you to stop right there Uchiha-san, I will not tolerate you insulting sensei in my presence" announced Hinata before adding "Are we clear Uchiha-san?" as she released his pressure points.

Hearing no answer from the avenger she took another step towards him but he quickly moved back "Whatever you're just a team of losers" he said as he went back upstairs.

"That was impressive Hinata-chan!" exclaimed Kiba as Akamaru jumped of his head and landed in Hinata's arms.

"Thanks Kiba-kun" replied a blushing heiress.

Seeing that she said everything she had to say Kurenai dismissed everyone and they all went to sleep.

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><p><strong>Wave Country – Unnamed bridge<strong>

It had been a week since team 8 arrived in Wave Country. The week passed quickly and the bridge was almost completed.

However, when they arrived this morning they saw a thick mist covering the entire bridge and all the workers were unconscious on the ground.

"Formation!" Commanded Kurenai as team 8 plus Shino took position around Tazuna.

"What's this I expected to fight the Copy ninja not some woman and her children" said a deep male voice as Zabuza appeared in the middle of the bridge with his associate still dressed in a hunter nin uniform.

"Hey Aburame boy, where's your sensei?" asked Zabuza recognizing Shino from their previous fight.

"You don't need to concern yourself with Kakashi as you will die here on this bridge today Zabuza" replied Kurenai miffed at the sexist remark from earlier.

Zabuza smirked and took out his sword and his apprentice prepared to attack too.

"Hinata, Kiba you take the fake hunter nin, Naruto you're with me we will take down Zabuza, Shino you guard Tazuna" said Kurenai.

"Hai!" everyone said as they took their positions.

"Haku do not fail me" said Zabuza to his apprentice who nodded.

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><p><strong>With Hinata &amp; Kiba vs Haku<strong>

"Cover me and analyze his style Hinata" said Kiba as he charged at Haku with Akamaru behind him.

Hinata nodded and activated her bloodline "Byakugan" and prepared to assist Kiba.

The fight was pretty even, Kiba was more powerful but Haku was faster. Akamaru covered Kiba's blind spots as he deflected every senbon thrown at his master from behind.

"You are good, better than your comrades from the other team" said Haku to Kiba.

"It would be pretty hard to be lower than the Duck ass and his fangirl Banshee" replied Kiba with a smirk.

"So true, but I can't stay here with you all day, I have to go assist Zabuza-sama" said Haku as he started to go through Hand signs.

"**Hyoton: Makyo Hyo Sho"** said Haku he used a dome made of ice to trap Kiba, Akamaru and himself inside.

Hinata was about to go inside and help her friends when Kiba stopped her "Wait Hinata, Don't come inside unless you see I can't handle him, we still don't know what he can do". Hinata nodded, she could still see inside the dome with her doujutsu but she was worried for her friends.

"A good call again but once inside this dome no one can escape the next jutsu" announce Haku.

"**Hyoton: Sensatsu Suisho"** he called his jutsu as thousands of ice senbon were thrown from all directions towards Kiba and Akamaru.

Kiba could only push Akamaru away as he took the full blast of death needles aimed at him.

"I'm sorry buddy, you will have to protect Hinata for me" said a very weakened Kiba to his companion.

Akamaru refused to move from his spot and as Haku prepared to move forward a blue blur flashed in front of him.

Hinata was enraged at what she just saw, Kiba was taken down by a shower of senbon and the opponent was also about to finish Akamaru. She made a move to attack Haku, but the ice ninja jumped backwards immediately and fused with his ice dome.

Haku started to throw senbon randomly to test hinata's defense and saw that she had quite an easy time blocking his senbon.

Hinata decided she had no time to loose and Kiba needed emergency treatment. She tried to think of a way to defeat the ice dome technique and then remembered her training with team 8 during their journey to Wave Country.

_Flashback: Konoha forest – two weeks ago_

"_Okay, let's take a break, we'll stop here for the night" said Kurenai to her team as they made their way to Wave Country._

"_Hinata, Kiba come here, I want you two to perform a little test for me to know how to train you in ninjutsu properly" she said to them as the camp was ready._

_Turned out Kiba had earth affinity while Hinata had a water affinity like Kurenai._

"_I'm sorry Kiba I don't have earth affinity like you but once we get back I can easily get you scrolls on earth elemental manipulation or a teacher to help you" said Kurenai to her student._

"_It's okay sensei, I can wait, I will go sleep good night" said Kiba as he entered his tent._

"_Hinata come here I will show you how to start on water elemental chakra manipulation" she said to her only female student._

_End of flashback_

She did not have much time to practice but she had to try, it was her only chance to help Kiba.

"_His ice dome is mostly made of water, it seems breaking one of those mirrors won't do any good as it reforms pretty quickly" _analyzed the heiress.

"_I only have one shot at this before he realize I can break his ice and then it will be a lot harder to catch him off guard" _she finished her plan and prepared to attack, timing herself precisely with her enemy movements using her Byakugan.

As Haku was about to use the **Sensatsu Suisho** again, that second of preparation cost him dearly as Hinata instantly got in front of him while he was still inside on the mirror composing his ice dome.

Hinata coated her palm with suiton chakra, the only thing she had managed to do so far with suiton manipulation chakra and hit the mirror with all she had in a single Juken strike.

She successfully escaped the dome and continued on her path to seal all the tenketsu she could of her opponent.

Before he realized what was happening Haku was immobilized on the ground unable to get up.

"That was magnificent kunoichi-san, you win I cannot continue the fight now finish me" said Haku with no emotion in his voice.

Hinata was shocked, shocked that she managed to beat this enemy, but also shocked that he just asked her to kill him. She was very tempted to honor his wish but she then heard Akamaru barked behind the dome and she saw that Kiba was starting to come through. She understood what the fake hunter nin tried to do and deactivated her Byakugan.

"The fight is over, I will spare your life as you spared my friend's life" she said as she went back to help Kiba stand up.

"_I'm sorry Zabuza-sama ..."_ thought Haku as he stayed there on the ground.

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><p><strong>Meanwhile with Kurenai &amp; Naruto vs Zabuza<strong>

"Talk about a disappointment, I get to fight a woman and a boy" said Zabuza as he stood before them.

"I'm the one who wants to cry here, I was so excited to get to fight the Kiri no Kijin and what do I get? A eyebrow-less freak with a very doubtful sense of fashion" replied Naruto with a smirk.

"I see you seem to really take care about your sword too, couldn't you chose something even bigger than that to wield you freak?" he added before a huge grin appeared on his face " … unless it is to compensate for you know ..." he finished using his fingers in the universal sign to represent a small manhood.

Kurenai couldn't stop herself from laughing at the joke while Zabuza was red with anger and launched himself at the pair.

"Cover me Naruto while I prepare my jutsu" said Kurenai.

"Roger that sensei" answered the blond before taking out his kunai and activating his **Futago Kaze Ken no jutsu**.

As Zabuza arrived on them Naruto took position in front of Kurenai with his twin blades and tried to block the demon's sword like he did against Yugao.

He was not prepared to face the strength behind the hit as Zabuza pushed him back and almost broke his guard.

Naruto then went on the offense charging his **Kaze no Yoroi** to stand a chance against the enemy jonin, as he made his first slash he was surprised that Zabuza had accurately read his reach, unlike Yugao the very experienced swordsman recognized Naruto's technique and evaded the cut.

"Did you really think you could cut me with those puny kunai of yours brat?" taunted Zabuza even though internally he was quite impressed with the young shinobi's skills. _"That was close, he would have pierced my lungs with that slash if I had not seen a technique looking like that before"_

Naruto tried to stay calm but it was proving to be very difficult as his opponent just evaded one of his most powerful attack. _"He has even better kenjutsu senses than Yugao-sensei. I can't beat him in a kenjutsu only fight but that sword of his, I don't have anything else to block it"_ Naruto cursed as he remembered Yugao's advice about his defense problem.

Zabuza was about to slash at the boy again when his surrounding suddenly felt weird.

"**Magen: Jyubaku Satsu"** Kurenai activated her genjutsu, Zabuza found himself trapped against a tree that came out of nowhere, Kurenai was about to finish him when Zabuza suddenly freed himself and used the momentum to take his sword and cut her pretty deeply.

"H-How did you?" Kurenai had troubles to stay up as Naruto ran to her and tried to stabilize his teacher.

They then saw that Zabuza had a deep gash on his right leg and Kurenai understood what happened.

"He used pain to get out of my genjutsu Naruto, I'm sorry but you have to stall him while I try to heal myself" said Kurenai and Naruto nodded.

"As if I'd let you do that, now die!" said Zabuza as he launched his jutsu **"Suiton: Suiryudan No jutsu"** and a gigantic dragon made of water rose from the river below the bridge.

The water dragon was about to reach its target when the wind around Naruto and Kurenai suddenly picked up, _"This is the first time I use it, I could never verify its efficiency but I have no choice, even if it will deplete me of almost all my chakra reserves, I have to do it in order to protect my precious ones"_ thought Naruto before calling his next jutsu.

"_**Futon: Higuma Otoshi"**_ he called in his mind as the wind in front of him violently picked up, Zabuza's water dragon instead of hitting them changed its path following Naruto's wind and rose into the sky, it then moved backwards and started to fall again directly over Zabuza.

"_Damn I can't move away with that leg"_ thought Zabuza as his own water dragon flew toward him at an incredible speed, most likely boosted by the blond mysterious wind technique and well … gravity from falling from so high.

Zabuza was washed away by his own technique and sent to the far end of the bridge where he collided into a solid stone structure. Naruto seeing the result, sported a smile before loosing consciousness and falling into Kurenai's arms.

"_No chakra left, can't move my leg properly and Haku most likely lost or he would have already interfered in this fight."_ Analyzed Zabuza as he felt a Kunai near his neck, Shino ready to finish him.

"Is this supposed to be a joke Zabuza?" called a new voice Zabuza immediately recognized from behind the mist.

"Gato ..." said Zabuza.

"Well it's all good, in the end I never planned to pay you anyway" replied the midget before adding "kill them all then we'll go for the village" he ordered his mercenary troops.

As Gato's men were about to advance, an arrow suddenly hit the floor in front of them.

On the other side of the bridge, Team 7 and all the villagers of Wave stood armed with what they could find ready to defend their village.

"We figured you would need some help after two of his goons tried to kidnap Tsunami" explained Kakashi before he charged at the mercenary with Sasuke.

Gato's men stood no chance against a fully rested Kakashi and even Sasuke got his first kill during the fight, taking down Gato himself. Sakura though just stayed behind to help the injured.

After that the trash was cleared, the Konoha ninja approached Zabuza who had the time to reunite with the downed Haku.

"Alright finish us we can't escape anyway" said Zabuza.

Kakashi was about to oblige when Naruto awoke "Stop!" he said as he stood up.

"This is my fight, I get to decide of its end as I'm the one who stopped him" said Naruto.

"Then finish me" repeated Zabuza.

"No we have no need to fight anymore today" replied Naruto.

"Are you sure Naru..." started Kakashi but Kurenai stopped him "Let my student finish Kakashi"

Kakashi could do nothing as Kurenai was his superior officer during this mission.

"Your contractor betrayed you, you are not bound to finish your mission any longer." continued Naruto.

"It changes nothing, we shall still be enemies tomorrow when we meet again on another battlefield." replied Zabuza.

"We are still enemies right now Zabuza-san, but even two enemies can show respect for each other. I respect your skill as a swordsman, you are the best that I could face so far and I actually hope that we meet again on the battlefield" said Naruto as everyone around him was impressed at the level of maturity he showed.

Zabuza's eyes widened as he listened to the young shinobi's words before him, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath then spoke to Naruto.

"Your generosity and your skill shall reach your enemies even before you have had the chance to meet them on the battlefield young man. " he said cryptically before he took Haku's immobilized body over his shoulder and shunshined out of the area.

"I'm proud of you Naruto, and you too Kiba, Hinata and Shino" said Kurenai as everyone made their way back to the village.

One week later, Team 7 and 8 made their way back to Konoha.

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><p><strong>Meanwhile in Konoha – Hokage office<strong>

"What the hell?" asked Sarutobi as he dropped the newly edited Bingo book on his desk.

On the opened page could be read:

**Name: Uzumaki Naruto**

**Nickname : Konoha's Kaze No Kami**

**Age : 12-15 ?**

**Rank : A**

**Status : Genin**

**Main attribute: Kenjutsu & Ninjutsu**

**Affinities : Wind**

**Bloodline : ?**

**Description : Has a very high affinity to the Wind element**

**Defeated Momochi Zabuza the Kirigakure No Kijin in Wave Country**

**Action : Approach with caution  
><strong>

Zabuza did indeed honor his oath on the bridge, for right now the entire Elemental Nations could witness the birth of a new legend, the Kaze No Kami was born.

**A/N:** Slightly longer than usual but I could not bring myself to stop the chapter in the middle of the fight. I'm not too sure about what kind of data are actually displayed in the bingo book or even if the book is different from each village's perspective. Any suggestion on that matter would be welcome.

Took the liberty to inspire myself from some sentences I heard in movies for some on the things said in the dialogues in this chapter.

As usual Read & Review please.

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><p><strong>New jutsu:<strong>

Well everything was "classic" except the one Naruto used

**Futon: Higuma Otoshi** , should be translated as the Bear's Drop I'm not sure, (cyber cookie to those who can guess where that comes from) Creates a strong rising wind current around Naruto to allow him to deflect then send back some types of elemental jutus to their original caster.


	8. Chunin Exams  Part I

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Please remember that if you leave anonymous reviews with questions, I will not be able to directly send you a reply to answer your questions.<p>

Thanks for the suggestions I received from a review to complete my bingo book page for Naruto from the previous chapter.

Without further delay, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Chunin Exams – Part I<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha's Main Gate<strong>

The journey back from Wave Country had been pretty uneventful, some bandits but nothing close to the opposition they met during their mission for Teams 7 and 8.

They finally arrived at Konoha's gate where they had their ID checked then Kurenai decided to directly go report to the Hokage Tower the results of the mission.

On their way to the tower, Naruto could not help but notice the weird looks he received from the villagers. Those were not the looks of fear or hatred he was used to receive, if he had to classify those looks he would say they were looks of curiosity and what surprised him a little, admiration.

The other team members and their sensei also noticed the strange looks their teammate was receiving and decided to say nothing until further explanation could be provided. Most of them wanted nothing more than go to the tower, debrief quickly then be dismissed to finally go home after what had to be the longest time they had been away from home ever.

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><p><strong>Hokage Tower – Hokage Office<strong>

Both Team 7 and 8 finally made it to the Hokage Tower and were currently standing in front of their leader in his office.

"Glad to see you back Team 7 and 8" said Sarutobi as he ordered his subordinates to stay at ease.

"It is good to be back sir. I am here to report the result of the mission for team 7 and 8 to Wave Country Hokage-sama" replied Kurenai.

"Very well go ahead" the Sandaime said.

Kurenai explained everything that had happened during the mission, from when her team left Konoha to join team 7 in Wave Country to the moment when they left after the bridge was completed by Tazuna and his workers 3 weeks later.

Sarutobi listened silently during her report, only giving occasional nods, or frowning when Kurenai explained Team 7 situation when they met, the way Kakashi handled his team training during all the time he had them and what level of skill they had.

As she finished her report, Sarutobi dismissed all the genin except for Naruto and also ordered Kakashi and Kurenai to stay.

"First, Kakashi I will address the problem concerning the way you run your team" announced Sarutobi.

"I am quite disappointed with your teaching methods, or in this case lack of teaching methods. You will have to show me that you have what it takes to be a jonin sensei or I will make you a chunin again." started the old Kage.

"But Hokage-sama, Sasuke is ..." he started as we was immediately cut by his leader.

"I am perfectly aware that part of the council is pushing for your to focus more on the Uchiha heir but I won't allow favoritism from my jonin, are we clear?" demanded the Sandaime.

"Hai! Hokage-sama" replied Kakashi.

"I will personally check the progress of ALL team members of squad 7 during the chunin exams that will take place in one week, and they better be ready for that Kakashi or you will discover the joys of gate guard duty again. You are dismissed. " finished Sarutobi as Kakashi left his office.

When Kakashi was out of his office, Sarutobi used some hand signs and sealed the room from prying ears.

"You most likely noticed a few difference from the way some people look at you since you came back from this mission Naruto-kun" asked the old man to his adoptive grandson.

"Yes Jiji, what's up with them it's kind of creepy" replied Naruto as his leader chuckled at the boy's reply.

"That would be the cause of your current predicament" said the Hokage as he thew a book on his desk to Kurenai and Naruto.

Kurenai instantly recognized the book and opened it to the last addition page and her eyes widened at what she saw.

"What is it sensei? What's in the book?" asked the boy to his sensei as he did not recognize the book.

"That's a bingo book Naruto, it lists all the relatively important ninja in the elemental nations." replied Kurenai.

"Really how important do you have to be to have your entry in this book?" asked the ever-curious blond.

"See for yourself" she replied as she handed him the book opened to his page.

Naruto's jaw dropped when he saw his entry in the bingo book, all information listed on him were more or less accurate but there was a lot missing too. Suddenly the last words of Zabuza flashed through his mind and he understood how his name made its way inside this book.

"_Your generosity and your skill shall reach your enemies even before you have had the chance to meet them on the battlefield young man."_ Naruto remembered Zabuza's words. _"So that's what he meant ..."_

"So I'm in this book, what does that change for me?" he asked.

"This book gives information on you to the whole elemental nations, every ninja village has access to it. It gives details on some of your skills and what feats you accomplished in your career. It also shows the different bounties on your head if you are important enough that some village wants you captured or dead." replied his teacher.

Sarutobi who had been silent during all the explanations Kurenai gave to her student, decided to give his input to the current situation.

"Yes, Kurenai is right Naruto. The stunt you pulled in Wave has put some focus on you, this was something we especially wanted to avoid." said the old man.

"I know Jiji but I had to protect my precious people, I had to use one of my best move to help sensei" said a scared Naruto as Kurenai put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Yes Naruto I know you did what you had to do to protect your team and I'm not mad at you, I just wanted you to be older for something like this to happen. Now other villages may try to send ninja to either harm you or try to kidnap you for their own benefit if they suspect you may have a bloodline Naruto." he said to the blond.

As Naruto was lost in thought with everything he just learned, the Sandaime tried to cheer him up.

"Well, it's not like everything is lost in this situation, as you saw, the villagers know of your actions in Wave and many ninja now respect you a lot more." Naruto's eyes widened at this particular piece of information.

"Moreover, the fact that your ability to manipulate wind to that extend became public knowledge in this manner, this made you an irreplaceable part of Konoha's forces. That also means that attempts to stop or slow your progress as a shinobi from inside Konoha will become a lot more difficult." continued Sarutobi.

"Does that mean that the council won't harass me anymore?" asked a skeptical Naruto.

"I wouldn't say stop for sure, more like they will happen a lot less and they will be more discrete" replied Sarutobi.

"We are also lucky that the file does not say that your ability is a bloodline, it would have been a lot more difficult in that case" added the Sandaime.

"No one knows that this is how almost no attack could hurt Na-chan, and I plan to keep it that way" said Naruto with determination.

"Alright Naruto, that's all for now. You are also aware from my conversation with Kakashi that the chunin exams will take place in one week in Konoha. I think Kurenai will agree with me that your team is ready" said the old man as Kurenai gave them a nod.

"I won't give team 8 any mission during that time and I suggest that you take that opportunity to rest first then train a little bit more before the exams start." finished Sarutobi as he dismissed the pair of ninja before him.

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><p><strong>Naruto's apartment<strong>

Naruto was finally home after three long weeks. He decided to go hit the shower then take a quick dinner and finally he went to bed.

He made his way to his mindscape as he slowly let sleep take over him.

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><p><strong>Mindscape<strong>

Naruto joined Natsuki as she was currently laying on the grass in the garden of her house.

"Hey there Na-chan" he said as he laid at her side.

"Hey there Naru-kun, what are you doing here I thought you would be tired after your long mission" replied the vixen.

"I've missed you so much, it's been so long since I've been able to be all alone with you after all, no one around me in the real world to disrupt us." he told her with a smile on his face.

She smiled back at him and the two lovers shared a deep kiss before he broke the contact and spoke to her again.

"So did you hear the good news?"

"About your entry in the bingo book?" she asked as he gave her a nod.

"Yes I was listening, that's amazing I think you should remember to thank that Zabuza guy once you see him again since he basically gave you a solution to most of your problems inside Konoha" she said with a smile.

"It's all thanks to your training Na-chan, I'm really grateful for all the things you did for me" he said as he kissed her again.

"I did not forget about my promise to free you from the seal either, there's just not a lot of information about fuinjutsu that I can easily find in the village" he said with sadness.

"It is true that I would be very happy to be able to hold you in my arms in the real world but as long as we're together and that you love me I am already happy Naru-kun, do not trouble yourself with it. You should focus on the chunin exams coming in a week first, even if I know you are more than ready" replied Natsuki to cheer him up.

"Alright Na-chan, but I'll ask the old man if he can help me with fuinjutsu, I won't say what for, as he may not like the idea of me trying to free you, I will just say that I want to know about the art since I've learned from you that my mother was quite good at it." he said.

"Okay Naru-kun. Now it's almost morning you should go rest to prepare for the exams" she said as he nodded and left his mindscape.

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><p><strong>Konoha Academy<strong>

The week pause passed quite quickly. Naruto just took the opportunity to visit the library to find out more about fuinijutsu. He did not find much except that there was once a Nation where the ninja all excelled in it, Uzushiogakure was its name. Unfortunately the village was destroyed during the second shinobi war. Naruto vowed to visit the ruins to find if he could salvage some things from it in order to develop a way to free Natsuki.

He was pulled out of his musing when he reached the academy's gate where Hinata and Kiba were waiting for him.

"Hey there Kiba, Hinata." said the blond as he joined his teammates.

"Yo Naruto you ready for this?" asked Kiba.

"Sure let's go" replied Naruto as they went to the designated classroom.

As they went inside classroom 303, they saw that most the teams were already there. Team 7 stood in a corner with team 10. Yamanaka Ino and Sakura were fawning over Sasuke while the rest were speaking among themselves.

As they joined them, Team 8 heard Sakura talking about how Sasuke was a hero in Wave Country, how he freed the villagers from a tyrant called Gato that he personally killed and how he stopped a chunin missing nin from Kiri from assassinating their client.

Team 8 had to facepalm at the "revisited" version of the Wave Country mission, though technically Sakura did not lie as all the ninja from team 7 & 8 were considered heroes in Wave, some more or less but still, Sasuke did stop one of the demon brothers and he killed Gato, after the battle was already over but whatever a kill is a kill, right?

Shino had the decency to look embarrassed by his teammates, though you could never tell behind his long coat and his sunglasses. Sasuke though looked smug at the praise and let Sakura tell her tale for the whole room/village to hear.

Naruto was not in the mood for some screeching noises from Sakura so he let it slide, he was not in Wave for the glory after all.

"You should keep it down a little bit" said a young man with a leaf headband. He had gray hair and wore purple shinobi clothes and thin glasses.

"Who the hell are you?" asked an irritated Sasuke that his moment of glory was interrupted.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto and I was just giving my fellow Konoha shinobi some advices to not get everyone here in the room to focus too much on you before the exams start." said the megane ninja before he continued.

"Well since it's obviously the first time you take the exam, how about I help you a little?" asked the silver haired ninja.

"What do you mean Kabuto-san? How can you help us?" asked Sakura shyly.

Kabuto took out a bunch of cards and put them in front of him "These are my information cards about all the ninja in this room, Do you want to know anything from someone inside this room?" he asked the rookies 9.

"Yea, Rock Lee, Sabaku No Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto" said Sasuke as he remembered his encounter with the first two he asked about.

_Flashback: The day before – Konoha Main Street_

_A group of Suna nin were harassing a bunch of kids from konoha in broad daylight when Shino decided to interfere to save one of the children._

"_I suggest that you refrain from causing problem in a foreign village, Suna shinobi." said Shino as he took Konohamaru from the suna nin._

"_I told you to drop it Kankuro" said the female partner of the Suna nin who was harassing the child._

"_Temari shut up I will just ..." he was about to attack Shino when a stone hit the wall behind him._

_Sasuke was the one who threw the rock. "Get lost Suna trash, I missed this time but the next will be on target" said the avenger._

"_Dude your shot missed me by at least 3 meters, you suck" replied Kankuro._

_Sasuke was about to throw a second rock when he heard a voice behind him._

"_And I suggest that you refrain from doing what you were about to do or I will be forced to kill you" said a boy with red hairs and murderous eyes just behind Sasuke._

_The surprised Sasuke fell from the tree he was standing on as the strange Suna nin used rejoined his team with a sand shunshin._

"_Gaara we were just ..." started Kankuro as Gaara cut him "Shut up let's go"._

_Before they left Gaara turned to Shino and said "What's your name?"_

"_Aburame Shino and you?" replied the bug user._

"_Sabaku no Gaara" said the Suna nin before he and his team left._

_Sasuke fumed at being ignored and also left._

_End of Flashback_

Rock Lee was a Konoha genin Sasuke lost to during a spar just before the exams. He would have been badly hurt if Lee's sensei didn't interfere effectively saving Sasuke's ass because Lee was about to use some restricted move that he was no supposed to.

"Hmm that's too easy you already have their names" said Kabuto.

He gave the data about Lee and Gaara but it wasn't that impressive. Gaara just seemed a bit strong since he never sustained any damage during his missions.

Then Kabuto took out Naruto's data card and his eyes widened before he read the card's data out loud for everyone in the entire room to hear.

"Uzumaki Naruto, member of team 8 under Yuhi Kurenai genjutsu mistress of Konoha. Teammates are Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata. He has done a total of 20 D-ranks and 1 A-rank missions." started Kabuto before taking a deep breath and continuing.

"Oh my … he is also the only genin to have ever made it into the bingo book, classified as A-rank shinobi, to engage with caution. He defeated Momochi Zabuza the Kiri No Kijin in Wave Country where he is considered a hero for his action leading to the fall of the local bandit warlord Gato." he finished his reading about Naruto.

Shikamaru frowned before saying "Sakura, didn't you say that it was Sasuke who was the hero of Wave and that he saved them all due to his fight with a Kiri missing nin? He really just killed a bandit?"

Sakura was cursing at the pineapple haired boy's perfect memory while Sasuke was fuming with rage once again for being humiliated in front of everyone.

Everyone in the room except for team 7 and 8 was now looking at Naruto like he grew a second head. After that Kabuto continued to tell the rookies about the exams and the different villages participating. As he mentioned the Sound village as being a new and most likely weak one he was attacked by a team from that village.

Before things could get too far, they were interrupted by a smoke explosion, Morino Ibiki proctor of the chunin exams first part, silenced them all and threatened to disqualify anyone not following his rules before continuing to explain his part of the exams.

When he finished explaining the rules he said "May the chunin exams first part begin!"

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><p><strong>AN:** Well that was the fallout of the wave mission and Naruto's debut in the bingo book. You may have noted that I'm having Shino more or less taking some of the scenes Naruto originally had in canon concerning team 7 with some modifications. That was also the case last chapter and his participation during the pre-fight with Zabuza.

Anyway chunin exams continue next time.

Read & Review please.


	9. Chunin Exams Part II

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Well well, someone finally challenged parts of my plot line, so thanks to StormeSkyes for his review. I will try to reply here since he didn't activate private messaging for his account.<p>

First, I will concede on the part about Hinata's crush on Naruto being resolved too fast. I will say in all honesty that I had actually planned to deal with that issue during this chapter as part of a flashback.

Moreover, I would not dwell too much on how her character was in canon, while this fic follows closely the classic timeline, that's basically it, only key parts of classic Naruto events are revisited in my fic, I never said that some characters wouldn't be a bit or overly OOC.

However I'm not really convinced about the building of a story around a pairing as being a bad thing. I do have an overall idea on how my fic will run till the end. It is indeed my first fic and I feared that leaving the pairing subject opened or vague would have resulted in me turning this into a review contest to vote for the female(s) that would be paired with Naruto. I do see a lot of stories with a good potential go unfinished because the author did not plan enough or he lets his reviewers chose a female protagonist for him that's not really fitting with his plot line.

Finally, about Naruto being not mature enough to grasp the concept of love and Kyuubi having to be the logic one and thinking about Naruto's understanding of love before jumping the gun I would retort that your point of view is based on the concept that Natsuki should be thinking as a responsible human being which she's not, she doesn't have the "human standards" about love nor does Naruto as a matter of fact. The boy did not have a normal childhood so it's safe to assume that he could have matured a lot faster than normal. I've seen lots of fics having that "confession" chapter as their first chapter, with Naruto being sometimes a lot younger than 12.

Well I'll end this with some cliche to relax the mood after this mini "rant", here goes ...

You can drive at 16, go to war at 18. You can drink at 21 and retire at 65, so how old do you have to be before your love is real? (Don't really remember where I heard this one but I thought it made sense at the moment and in this particular case)

Welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Chunin Exams – Part II<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha Academy – Classroom 303<strong>

As the genin were starting their written exam, Naruto was patiently waiting for his team to take action. Team 8 was a natural information gathering and tracking team so Naruto immediately understood what was going on as he read the first questions of the test.

Hinata understood as well the true meaning of the test and she took a look with her Byakugan activated to see that Kiba was doing okay since he had starting writing answers on his exam sheet with the help of his companion Akamaru. She saw that Naruto was looking in her direction and understood what he wanted.

She quickly used her bloodline to copy all the answers from a guy in front of her who mysteriously had already filled all the answers for the test. She left the spot where she should have filled her name empty on purpose. When she was done, she signaled to Naruto that she was ready with a fake cough.

As he received the signal Naruto started to channel wind chakra and suddenly a huge gust of wind appeared in the exam room effectively disrupting the test long enough for him to make the switch with Hinata's paper before deactivating his jutsu with a smirk.

As the exam started again Hinata just took the time to fill the answers again as she already did minutes before. Team 8 then waited for the end of the test and wasn't fooled either by the last do or die question.

As Ibiki was closing the first part of the exams, a purple blur came through the window. Mitarashi Anko was the proctor for the second part of the exams. As she introduced herself to the genins who made it to the second round, she noticed Naruto and got a sadistic grin on her face.

"Naru-chan you made it! It's been such a long time, did you miss me?" she announced in front of everyone much to the irritation of a certain vixen.

"**She's still as annoying as ever"** growled Natsuki.

"Relax, Na-chan. Anko-sensei is my friend she's just joking." replied Naruto in his mind.

"Alright maggots, follow me to training ground 44 for the next part" she said and left the room the same way she entered, leaving an entire sweatdropping classroom.

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><p><strong>Training Ground 44<strong>

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><p>As Anko explained the rules for the second part of the chunin exams which would take place in the Forest of Death for a survival test during 5 days, Naruto came face to face with the Suna shinobi Kabuto was talking about earlier, Gaara was his name if Naruto remembered well.<p>

"Mother wants your blood, I will kill you during the next part" announced the red head.

"Who?" asked Naruto seemingly confused.

"Moth..." replied Gaara as he was cut by the blond.

"Whatever dude, look trash talk before the game is a sign of weakness" said Naruto as he walked back to his team with a smirk, leaving a highly irritated Suna nin behind.

"What did he want?" asked Kiba as Naruto made it back.

"I'm not sure, I think he wanted to talk trash" replied Naruto.

"Well let's get ready the exam is starting" said Kiba as they went to their designated starting area.

"Alright, the second part of the chunin exams starts now!" exclaimed Anko as the training ground 44 doors all opened for the contestants.

Timeskip – 1 day later

Team 8 had quickly disposed of a team from Ame that tried to fool them with henge and fortunately they had the scroll Naruto's team needed to complete this part of the exam. So they decided to calmly head for the tower then relax for the remaining time they would have.

They were running in the trees for a few hours when Naruto suddenly spoke.

"So how long are you two planing to hide to me that you're dating each other?" said Naruto to his teammates as they were starting to slow down from their running to make a camp for the night.

Kiba almost lost his balance and fall from the tree he was on, and Hinata had a huge blush on her face.

"What are you talking about we..." started Kiba as he was cut by Naruto.

"I may not be as good as you but my nose never failed me and I can smell Hinata's perfume all over you" said Naruto.

Kiba and Hinata looked at each other then shared a smile and Kiba was the one to speak.

"Alright we confess but you can't tell this to anyone." asked the Inuzuka heir to his teammate.

"My lips are sealed, and I want to say that I'm happy for you guys" replied Naruto with a smile.

"Thanks buddy" Said Kiba.

"Thank you Naruto-kun" added Hinata.

Hinata had changed a lot since the first time they became a team. Naruto remembered the conversation he had with her that most likely changed the way she saw him.

_Flashback – After Naruto's evaluation with Kurenai and her friends_

_Kurenai's friends Anko and Yugao just left the training ground for a few minutes before Hinata and Kiba arrived for their team briefing._

_Naruto was still a bit winded from his previous test so he took the opportunity to deal with something else he had planned to do anyway so he went in Hinata's direction and asked for her to step out with him for a short talk._

_Hinata blushed madly at what Naruto just said to her but looked at her sensei for permission before she received a nod from Kurenai. She then followed Naruto in the woods._

"_W-What is it Naruto-kun?" asked the girl._

_Naruto took a deep breath and spoke to her calmly, "Hinata, despite what everyone thinks I'm not an idiot, I saw how you look at me and how you react to me any time I try to speak to you" he said to her._

"_I don't think what you feel for me is really love though" continued the blond._

"_What do you mean Naruto-kun, ever since you saved me from those boys all those years ago I ..." said Hinata but Naruto didn't let her finish._

"_That's exactly why Hinata. What you feel for me is admiration, you admire me standing up to those who oppressed you, something you always wanted to do against your family and their strict rules." he said before adding "Moreover you only know the fake me, a mask that I show to the world in order for them to leave me alone, I play the fool and it's not me, not the real me Hinata."_

"_I won't lie to you either, there's someone else in my heart. I've know her for a long time now and she knows me too, the real me. I finally confessed to her yesterday and she loves me back. That's also the reason why I can't return your feelings." he said._

"_I understand Naruto-kun" said a sad but convinced Hinata._

"_I hope we can still work together as a team and I know that with some good training you can become one of the best kunoichi the leaf has ever produced Hinata, I would be glad to help you train every once in awhile." finished Naruto._

"_Y-You really mean it? You don't think I'm weak" asked Hinata._

"_I know that you are strong Hinata, you just have to realize it yourself and nothing could stop you, you are after all the kunoichi of the year!" said Naruto to lighten the mood._

"_Thank you Naruto-kun" said a surprisingly not stuttering Hinata as they made their way back to the training ground._

_Unknown to them, Kurenai was hiding in a very discrete genjutsu behind them and heard the whole thing._

"_I was right to request this team, they will do great in the future and I will help them achieve their dreams" thought Kurenai as she dispelled her jutsu and shushined back too._

_End of Flashback_

"So how long has this been going on?" asked the curious blond to the still embarrassed pair.

"Since the Wave mission, right after Hinata-chan put that emo king in his place If you want to know exactly when" replied Kiba with a smile.

"Does Sensei know?" asked Naruto again.

"She ..." started Kiba but a screaming voice interrupted them.

"It's not far from here, let's go check it out" replied Naruto.

They only had to run for a few seconds to reach the origin of the scream.

There in front of them stood the team from Suna against another team from Ame. The red head who tried to speak with Naruto before the exams was holding one of the Ame nin in a strange jutsu involving sand manipulation.

Then he suddenly called a jutsu.

"**Sabaku Sousou"** called Gaara as the sand around his opponent suddenly shrank and crushed the unfortunate nin inside, blood splattering all around them.

Hinata almost feinted at the scene while Naruto and Kiba were also quite shocked at the brutality of the kill.

The Ame nin's teammates tried to run but also stood no chance against the red head killing machine.

"**Naru-kun be careful I sense demonic chakra coming from him"** warned Natsuki as she felt a presence in this boy she never imagined she'd feel again.

"_Are you sure Na-chan"_ asked the blond.

"**Yes, I'm positive that's the Ichibi's Jinchuriki. Be very prudent around him, like you he has an ability from his bijuu, he can control sand with his chakra like you do with your wind."** replied the vixen.

Kiba was now having an unconscious Hinata in his arms bridal style and exchanged a glance with Naruto, they agreed to not confront the psychotic unless they had no other choice and made their way back to their camp.

Once they were back, Naruto spoke. "We will only rest until Hinata is up then we will sprint to the tower, there we'll be more at ease than now".

Kiba nodded and started to clear the camp while waiting for his girlfriend to wake up, Akamaru watching over her sleeping form.

Naruto was obviously perturbed at the revelation of someone like him turning into a mindless murderer. He could only think about how his life would have been if he never met Natsuki and that scared him, a lot.

Natsuki feeling her mate's anxiety tried to speak to him **"Don't stress yourself over what could have been Naru-kun. Just concentrate on what you are right now and what you have, you have me now, you have your teammates too, as well as the old man your sensei and her friends, though I'm not the greatest fan of the snake lover one these days"** ranted Natsuki in his mind.

That calmed him down a little as Hinata was finally coming back.

They ran non-stop for 2 hours then finally arrived at the tower. Once inside they saw that the Suna team was the first to arrive and they were the second. They just went passed them and got to the waiting area.

Three days later, more teams had arrived to the tower, the rookies 9 were all there, as well as the team with Rock Lee. Of course the Suna team was already there. Naruto also saw the team from Oto who made such a ruckus during the first exam. Kabuto's team was also there.

As all the genin were lined-up in the main hall of the tower, Naruto could see Sasuke holding his neck painfully, seemed like he received a bug bite there or something, Naruto could feel something almost demonic coming from the strange bug bites on the avenger's neck.

Naruto just shrugged it off, thinking that maybe the Uchiha's ego or the Pink bitch's screeching voice finally made Shino snap and the bug user sent his kikai creatures against them. The thought made Naruto smile before he chose to focus at what the old man was saying to them all.

Sarutobi just gave the genin some pep talk about the chunin exams and their signification then a sickly jonin began to explain the next part of the exams.

"Seeing that there's a little bit too many of you, we will proceed to a preliminary tournament to lower the number of contestants who will face each others during the exam's finals." explained the now identified Geko Hayate.

Kabuto surprisingly forfeited after Hayate asked if anybody wanted to forfeit for the next part, saying that he was too tired to continue.

"Okay if no one else wants to withdraw from the exam, we will start the fights."

The chunin exam finals preliminary round was about to start.

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><p><strong>AN:** So what do you think, Hinata and Kiba are now the official second pairing I have in this fic.

Stay tuned for the preliminary round fights next chapter, and sorry can't have action packed chapter every time :)

_If you are still reading my fic, I hope we're still okay StormeSkyes and that I have at least addressed some of the issues you pointed out in your review._

Anyway as usual, Read and Review please.


	10. Preliminary Rounds

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Good reviews continue to appear and I am trying to reply to everyone the best I can, so thanks a lot to you guys. I am especially happily surprised to have not receive any flame yet, not that it would have really disturbed me or anything. Constructive criticism is also highly appreciated.<p>

Now some stats on my story after its first week of existence not counting today, a total of 48 reviews, 15305 hits, 2 C2s, 90 Favorites and 93 alerts. That's 8 reviews, 2550 hits, 15 Favorites and 15 Alerts per day, I have no basis to compare those figures to but I'm quite satisfied anyway for my first try as an author.

Well that's it for the "Customer feedback analysis" for now :)

Welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: Chunin Exams – Preliminary Rounds<strong>

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><p><strong>Forest of Death – Central Tower<strong>

As the genin and their sensei left the center of the room and made their way to the stairs on the sides in order to reach the watching area, only three ninja stayed down in the ring.

The first one was Geko Hayate the referee, then the two others were Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi whose names were just called moments before, supposedly randomly picked and currently displayed by a giant electronic screen at the back of the room.

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><p><strong>Uchiha Sasuke vs Akado Yoroi<strong>

The fight went on pretty quickly, Yoroi was using taijutsu only and surprisingly Sasuke too. Naruto wondered why the avenger was not using his trademark fireball techniques. Sasuke used a strange taijutsu combo to take out Yoroi.

"I have to admit that last move the Uchiha came up with was quite something" said Naruto to his teammates.

"That's not something he invented by himself Naruto-kun" replied Hinata as Naruto raised an eyebrow at her answer.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto confused.

"It is a taijutsu move used by Maito Gai, my cousin Neji's sensei and Rock Lee the one Sasuke asked about in the beginning of the exams with Kabuto-san." said Hinata as she had occasionally seen Neji's training with his team in the past.

"I see, he must have awakened his bloodline during the time after the Wave mission and now. To think that the bastard would use it copy one of his own ally technique." analyzed Naruto.

Lee and Gai seemed a bit unnerved by what they saw in the arena but chose to say nothing about it. Kakashi just helped Sasuke leave the ring and then took the avenger with him somewhere.

The board then flashed again and the next fight started.

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><p><strong>Aburame Shino vs Abumi Zaku<strong>

Shino once again displayed his strategical prowess as he came up with a 3 part plan to take down his opponent.

First, he showed his Kikai bugs around himself to everyone's eyes. This served as a distraction as a swarm of those bugs then discretely made their way around the unsuspecting Zaku. Finally as the Oto nin was panicking at the sight of the first trap, Shino sent a small portion of his familiars to sabotage his enemy's weapons, his arms.

The result was Zaku blowing up his arms with his own jutsu effectively ending the fight.

The next fight was then called.

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><p><strong>Tsurugi Misumi vs Sabaku no Kankuro<strong>

Again, the fight was a quick one, Kankuro turned out to be a Puppet Master, his body turned into a puppet when his opponent tried to beat him with a taijutsu move. The real Kankuro was hidden in his strange backpack using chakra strings to operate the fake body. His opponent was beaten quite easily after that.

The next fight proved to be amazingly boring.

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><p><strong>Yamanaka Ino vs Haruno Sakura<strong>

The two fangirls ended up in a double K.O., no one was impressed by their fight.

"As none of the contestant can continue the fight, no one shall advance to the next round" declared Hayate as he called the next match.

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><p><strong>Tenten vs Sabaku no Temari<strong>

Another kunoichi fight, though this one proved to be a lot more interesting.

Tenten was heavily dependent on her weapons, Naruto was particularly interested in her ability with sealing scrolls and thought it would be a good idea to ask her about it later.

Temari was using a big ass fan and used it to deflect every attack made by Tenten by throwing Wind attacks with it. It was the first time Naruto encountered someone using Wind other than him.

Tenten lost after Temari used another combo of her fan and wind technique, the **Ninpo Kamaitachi**.

Then the next fight was called.

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><p><strong>Kin Tsuchi vs Nara Shikamaru<strong>

Shikamaru was not pleased to have to fight a woman, but thanks to a good strategy he did not have to put much of a fight to win his match.

Finally a member of Team 8 was called next.

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><p><strong>Uzumaki Naruto vs Kinuta Dosu<strong>

Naruto remembered his opponent from the first part of the exams, he was from the team who attacked Kabuto after he said Oto was a minor and weak village.

This Oto nin was interesting because even though he did not make solid contact with Kabuto when he punched him, Kabuto still suffered some kind of internal damage, Naruto thought that the special device that shinobi had on his arms was the cause of all that.

Naruto was pulled out of his musing by Dosu talking to him.

"So you're that kid from the bingo book that Kabuto guy was speaking about, must be some kind of bull from Konoha nins banding together to scare the opposition by spreading fake rumors like that." taunted Dosu but Naruto just stood in his original position not showing any signs of irritation whatsoever.

Seeing that Naruto did not take the bait, Dosu decided to charge. They ended up in a taijutsu spar.

As they were exchanging blows, Naruto occasionally felt the wind around him shifting, almost bending to follow the Oto nin's movements. The enemy's movements were good but a lot weaker and slower than what he had usually encountered against Kurenai or Anko.

He was about to launch his **Kitsune Yuurei** to finish his opponent when he suddenly lost his balance and almost fell to the ground. His vision was also starting to get blurred and his head was killing him.

"So it seems my attacks are finally starting to affect you, I was starting to wonder if you were immune to them." said Dosu.

Naruto then understood what just happened, "Y-Your arms, the sound ..." replied Naruto.

"Exactly, the sound. Do you even know what a sound really is?" asked Dosu.

"Vibrations ..." replied Naruto still trying to stay up.

"Correct, and if you are able to hear a sound then that means that your ears were able to capture the vibrations in the air." explained Dosu before adding "There is no defense against my attacks, and with my next attack I will rupture your internal hearing system" announced Dosu as he resumed the fight running straight to Naruto.

"_Shit, I can't let him hit me again with that move or I'm done for"_ analyzed Naruto before planing for his next move.

Naruto started going through hand signs, then he called his technique as Dosu was approaching him, **"Futon: Tsubame Gaeshi"** said Naruto as he threw two kunai away.

The experienced ninja around him were a little surprised by what Naruto just called his jutsu,

"_Those were the hand signs for the **Kunai Kage Bunshin no jutsu**, why did he call it **Tsubame Gaeshi**"_ was the question on every jonin plus leveled ninja in the room.

The kunai went straight around Dosu missing him from a good meter on each side, "I don't know what technique you tried to use but it obviously failed, you can't even properly throw a kunai straight at me after being hit by my jutsu earlier" taunted Dosu as he continued to run straight to Naruto to finish the job.

His arrogance made him miss the looks of surprise on everyone's faces as the two kunai Naruto launched suddenly separated in ten kunai each. Then the two barrage of kunai changed path and turned back in a curved path, this time to point directly at the back of the unsuspecting Dosu.

As a flock of bird, the barrage of kunai took form and dived in a straight path to pierce the back of the Oto nin.

Dosu could only blink as the pain took over in his whole body. Fortunately for him no kunai were aimed at a vital spot but the pain was still excruciating, he lost consciousness pretty fast.

The doctors went to stop the bleeding as soon as possible and Naruto was declared the winner in an absolute silent room.

The only 5 people who understood part of what Naruto called **Tsubame Gaeshi** were Team 8, Anko and the old man.

"_So he did have to use hand signs and call the jutsu out loud after all to perform a jutsu that is not entirely based on wind manipulation"_ analyzed the Sandaime.

"_Yugao will be pleased to know that he put one of the jutsu she taught him on weapons to use in a fight so fast, combining it with Wind chakra no less"_ Anko mused with a grin on her face.

"A good fight Naruto, great strategy against something you didn't expect, you turned what he thought as a weakness he created on you into a distraction to prevent him from noticing your attack until it was too late." said Kurenai as Naruto joined Team 8 back in the watching area.

"Thank you sensei" replied Naruto, "Your turn now Kiba and Hinata you have to pass this round too" added Naruto to his teammates as the next fight was called.

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><p><strong>Hyuga Hinata vs Hyuga Neji<strong>

The fight between Hinata and Neji was a demo of Konoha's most noble family taijutsu style. Neji was at first surprised that Hinata was a lot more confident than usual, she also seemed to have increased her overall skill in the mastery of the Gentle Fist.

Nevertheless, Neji was more experienced, and he had seriously practiced the family art for a lot longer than her. So he eventually took the advantage in the fight and blocked a major part of her tenketsus.

He was increasingly starting to get annoyed by her attitude to never give up and tried to use a killing blow on her only to be stopped by jonins who did not want to have someone die unnecessarily.

He was declared the winner due to external interference. As he left, he exchanged hard looks with Kiba and Naruto.

The next fight was then called.

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><p><strong>Rock Lee vs Sabaku no Gaara<strong>

Lee turned out to be a lot stronger than what most of the ninja in the room anticipated. He used very high taijutsu moves and his speed was on par with jonin level shinobi.

Naruto, though, already knew how the match would end. He remembered his conversation with Natsuki about Gaara being someone like him, jinchuriki for the one tailed raccoon Shukaku.

In the end, Lee used some ultimate taijutsu move, going above the human body's limits but failed to seriously injure Gaara. Gaara on the other hand did try to kill the Konoha shinobi but only managed to seriously injure Lee by crushing one of his arms and legs.

Before the psychotic red head could go on and finish Lee, Gai saved his student's life by interfering during the fight.

Gaara was declared winner by default because of Gai's interference and went back to his team waiting for him in the watching zone.

It was then time for the last fight of the day.

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><p><strong>Inuzuka Kiba vs Akimichi Choji<strong>

Kiba and Choji faced each other in the ring for the last spot to the chunin exams finals.

Neither of them lost any time as they launched their special techniques right of the bat in preparation for the fight.

"**Ninpo : Baika no jutsu"** called Choji as he transformed his body in a giant human sphere.

"**Ninpo : Jujin Bunshin no jutsu"** said Kiba as Akamaru transformed into a second Kiba.

They then called their attack jutsu against each other.

"**Nikudan Sensha"** called Choji as the human sphere he transformed into seconds earlier began to rotate on itself and charged at Kiba and Akamaru.

"**Gatsuga"** a double tornado was launched in the direction of Choji as Kiba called his jutsu.

As the two jutsu collided, a huge cloud of dust covered everyone's eyes. When the cloud dissipated, Choji appeared the same as before still in his spherical form while Kiba and Akamaru were on the ground panting and bleeding a little.

"_Damn, his jutsu has more power than mine I won't be able to get past him like that"_ analyzed the Inuzuka heir.

"_I need to slow down his rotation power if I want a chance to defeat him"_ thought Kiba.

Choji charged at Kiba again but this time Kiba did not launch his **Gatsuga** immediately, he went through hand signs and then called a new technique, **"Doton : Doryu Taiga"**.

A huge torrent of mud appeared in front of him as Choji charged at him.

It didn't stop completely Choji's movements but it slowed them down greatly as more and more mud were picked up by the Akimichi's heir jutsu.

Kiba then used **Gatsuga** again on the weakened form of the **Nikudan Sensha** and this time he overpowered it.

Choji was knocked out by the power behind the attack, then Hayate declare Kiba the winner of the last qualifying match of the preliminary rounds.

Kiba made it back to his team and thanked Kurenai for helping him with Doton manipulation.

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><p>After that, every contestant qualified for the finals went to get a number to determine the match ups for the finals rounds that would take place in Konoha's Stadium in a month time.<p>

When all took a number and announced it, the match ups could be seen on a screen,

Match 1: Inuzuka Kiba versus Hyuga Neji

Match 2: Sabaku no Kankuro versus Aburame Shino

Match 3: Nara Shikamaru versus Sabaku no Temari

Match 4: Uzumaki Naruto versus Sabaku no Gaara

Match 5: Uchiha Sasuke versus winner of Match 4

Every contestant took a discrete glance at his or her future opponents then the Sandaime dismissed them all and wished them good luck and to work hard during the month they had to train.

Naruto regrouped with his team and sensei and they finally left the Forest of Death.

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><p><strong>AN:** What do you think? Just changed Naruto and Kiba's matches as I didn't want them to face each other during those preliminary fights.

Also made Naruto struggle a little bit, it's not that funny if he walks over everyone every time ;)

Next time is training time, as usual Read & Review please.

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><p><strong>New jutsu :<strong>

**Futon : Tsubame Gaeshi** , translated as Swallow Return, is based on the **Ninpo : Kage Kunai Bunshin no jutsu** but Naruto adds Wind elemental chakra manipulation to it and change the trajectory of the kunai barrage created.


	11. Ties to the Past

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Well I'm proud to say I spoke too soon in my last opening author's note, I did receive my first 'flame' review though I'm not sure if the reviewer is serious or just cynical. I guess it's an important step for each author when they receive their first 'flame' review.<p>

Now, and assuming the reviewer 'Sasha Naruto' was serious, I find it strange that you would say after reading chapter 2, that I'm not original enough and that I should distance myself from the canon manga. (my polite understanding of your rant about the Uzumakis and Kishimoto)

I considered chapter 2 as a key point of my story introducing Naruto's original bloodline and changing his fate from the lonely talentless boy to the companion of Kyuubi and trained warrior he is when he reached the genin rank.

Finally, I'm pleased you also enjoy the pairing as it is also one of my favorite, though I don't see myself revamping completely the second chapter when I'm already working on the 12th one ;)

Well I hope you will enjoy the "original" mini-arc from this chapter.

Without further delay, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: Ties to the Past<strong>

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><p><strong>Training Ground 8<strong>

The preliminary rounds of the chunin exams just ended yesterday, Kurenai was very proud of her students.

Hinata was the only one who didn't qualify for the finals but she didn't have anything to be ashamed of, Kurenai said that even if Hinata didn't win, she fought admirably well against Neji, who is more experienced than her.

Kurenai asked her team if they wanted training in any particular subject for the next month to prepare for the finals.

Kiba replied that he would spend the entire month learning with his family in order to perfect the jutsu he already had. He said that after his fight with Choji, he realized that he did not master his family techniques to an acceptable level yet, leading to his **Gatsuga** being weaker than what it should have been. Kurenai suggested that he should come to her if he ever needed more help in his Doton chakra manipulation, Kiba happily accepted his sensei's proposal.

Hinata had suffered injuries from her fight with her cousin Neji, she had to rest her body for at least a month before she would be medically allowed to resume her kunoichi duties. Kurenai nodded then turned her head in Naruto's direction.

Naruto thought about what he would work on during the break, he came to the conclusion that he needed a trump card in his arsenal if he wanted to have a chance to be able to fight the other jinchuriki Gaara. His wind techniques might not be strong enough to overpower the sand based jutsu of the Suna shinobi.

"I'm not sure yet about my training for the month sensei, I had plans to go meet the old man today in order to figure something out." he said to her while pointing at his stomach where Natsuki's seal is located.

Kurenai understood his sign and gave him a nod of acceptance, "Alright, with Kiba and Hinata going their way, we don't need to hold team meetings everyday any more for the remaining of the chunin exams. Just come to me if you need anything" she said as she dismissed her students.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

Naruto made his way to the old man's office and entered the same way he always did, knocking the door opened with his foot and shouting as he went inside.

"Hey Old man you got a minute?" asked the blond.

"Yes Naruto what can I do for you my boy, shouldn't you be training for the finals?" replied Sarutobi.

Naruto explained his problems to the village leader, Gaara being a host like him, and that he didn't know what he needed to focus on in order to compete with the Suna jinchuriki.

Sarutobi thought about it for a moment before he spoke again, "As you know your mother was chosen as a host before you because of the Uzumaki bloodline that allowed her to have some control over the bijuu. I don't know a lot about her bloodline other than it was only the female Uzumaki who could do it but I think that the other Uzumaki should also have had some other way to defend themselves against the powers of bijuus."

"But there's no record left on the Uzumaki in the village Jiji, how will I be able to find anything relevant to my ancestors?" asked Naruto.

Sarutobi seemed lost as well at the blond's question.

"**Naru-kun, I think I know where we could find information about the Uzumaki."** said Natsuki in his mind.

"_Really? Where?"_ replied Naruto in his mind.

"**Do you remember Uzushiogakure, it's the place where your mother came from, even though it was destroyed in the second shinobi war I'm sure you could still find something useful there"** replied the vixen.

Naruto's eyes widened at this, he did indeed wanted to visit his mother's homeland, where he hoped he could also find a way to free Natsuki from the seal.

"Jiji what about Uzu no Kuni, or more precisely what's left of it. I'm sure I could find something useful for me there and I think that I need to visit the country where my mother was born and all my ancestors before her." asked Naruto.

"I think that's a great idea Naruto-kun. However I can't let you go alone and I don't have any resource left to spare since the village's forces are already under a lot of stress with the patrols and gate duties increased due to the chunin exams." Sarutobi said to Naruto.

"_I can't ask Kurenai-sensei to come with me for a month long trip outside the village, Kiba or Hinata may need her more than me during that time" _thought a dejected Naruto.

Sarutobi was sad that he couldn't help his adoptive grandson but he had to stay fair, he couldn't order one of his subordinates to travel to Uzu no Kuni with Naruto without a proper reason.

He thought about who he could possibly send out in an "off the record" mission, someone that would be able to leave unnoticed. That shinobi would have to be strong enough to protect Naruto and also level-headed enough to bear Naruto's exuberant attitude.

Then his eyes suddenly widened as he just found the perfect escort for Naruto, _"Yes, I think it is highly time that those two meet ..."_ he thought.

"Naruto I may have someone who could go with you to Uzu no Kuni, he is also strong enough to supervise your training while you try to find traces of your ancestors." Sarutobi said with a smile on his face.

"Who is it Jiji? I thought you said everyone was busy at the moment." asked Naruto.

"Well he is not exactly under my direct command and he has free travel rights so he isn't required to stay to protect the village at all time. It just happened that he came back this morning." Replied the old man.

"Here, you will find him at this address, give him this letter and he will understand the situation." Added Sarutobi as he handed a letter with his seal on it to Naruto.

"Thank you Jiji! I'll see you in a month." Replied Naruto and with that he left the office to go find that mysterious man.

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha's Onsen<strong>

Naruto made it to the bath house, wondering why Sarutobi knew this mysterious man would be here. He was also surprised when the old man didn't want to reveal this man's identity, saying that it would be better if the man properly introduced himself.

He was about to enter when he heard strange noises from the side of the building. As he went around he saw a man inside a tall tree looking down into the bathing area. The man was giggling and taking notes inside a small hand book at the same time. Naruto couldn't see his face as the man was hiding pretty high in that tree and only the giggling and scratching were proof of his presence.

If there was something that Naruto inherited from Kurenai, it was the hate of perverts. He was thinking of the best way to punish this pervert then mentally called a jutsu.

"_**Futon : Furyudan no jutsu"**_ Naruto silently launched his jutsu against the tree the pervert was hiding in.

The wind dragon slashed through the tree in its mid section, bending the upper section just in the right angle for the unsuspecting pervert to fall into the bathing area on the women side.

Seems like the ladies inside did not take too kindly to be disturbed and peeked to during their relaxation time. The pervert must have got the beating of his life if what Naruto heard from the other side of the wall was correct.

Satisfied with his work Naruto decided to go inside, in the men area of course and find this instructor. According to his Jiji, the man had long white hairs and strange red markings on his face.

He was about to enter the men locker room when he saw the pervert getting out of the women area, beaten and hurt but nothing to harsh. Then his eyes widened, _"Long white hairs, those red lines on his face, Oh my god he's the one Jiji was talking about!" _thought Naruto as he observed the man.

"Hey pervert, did you enjoy the beating?" asked Naruto.

"So that was you!" yelled the man as he charged at Naruto but Naruto just stood there and lifted the letter with the Hokage seal in his hand.

The approaching man stopped in his tracks and took the letter. His eyes widened as he read the letter, taking short glances at Naruto from time to time. _"So that's Minato's and Kushina's kid, sensei is finally letting me take him out of the village, this should be fun."_ he thought in his mind before giving back the letter to Naruto.

Then his face's expression suddenly changed and turned from lecherous and perverted into a serious one as he spoke to the young boy in front of him.

"Okay I understand your situation and I'll go with you on your trip." he said.

"I don't see why the old man would chose a pervert like you to be my escort, much less the instructor to supervise my training for the month to come." replied Naruto.

"Follow me outside, you'll understand soon enough." replied the pervert.

Naruto gave him a nod and they left the bath house, then the man took Naruto to the closest empty training ground.

* * *

><p><strong>Training Ground 17<strong>

They reached the center of the field and the man motioned for Naruto to sit down and he did the same after making sure that no one was around for the upcoming conversation.

"Alright, let me introduce myself first. I'm Jiraya of the Sennin and I was a student under the Sandaime. I'm in charge of Konoha's spy network so that's why I'm almost never inside the village." said the now identified Jiraya.

"_That's also the reason why I couldn't look after you before now."_ he added in his mind.

Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the name, Jiraya is one of the best if not the best shinobi of the leaf right now. He along with two others was in the team trained by Jiji a long time ago. It was said in the book he read about them that each of them could fight an entire army by themselves.

"And you know about my reason to go there?" asked Naruto, scared that this man would hold a grudge against him for holding Natsuki in him.

"Yes the Hokage explained the situation in his letter, that you would face the Suna Jinchuriki in the finals. I also know about your 'burden'." replied Jiraya.

Naruto smiled, he found another person who did not hate him for having Natsuki sealed in him. He was a little weird and a big time pervert but he was strong and seemed reliable too. Deciding to follow his instincts he made his decision.

"I would be honored to have you supervise my training for the month to come and I thank you for accepting to come with me to find my mother's homeland" Said the young blond as he bowed to the sennin.

"Alright drop the formalities, pack your things we leave tomorrow morning at dawn." said Jiraya as he stood up.

"Okay Ero-sennin! See you tomorrow!" replied Naruto as he shunshined out of the area.

Jiraya almost fell back when he heard the nickname but smiled as he too left the clearing.

* * *

><p><strong>Timeskip – One week later<strong>

* * *

><p>It took them one week to finally reach Uzu no Kuni. The fastest way was to walk back to Wave before taking a boat in order to reach the ruins of the ancient civilization of Whirlpool Country. They were currently on the boat and the island of Uzu was in sight.<p>

During their traveling time, Jiraya had evaluated Naruto's level of skill in all the ninja arts. He had come to the same conclusion as Kurenai and her friends, Naruto was currently at High chunin level at least and Tokubetsu jonin at most.

Jiraya knew Kurenai would work on Naruto's genjutsu issues later so he decided to improve the boy's basic chakra control. He was astonished at Naruto's control over the wind element and accepted to help the boy in his tests to counter every elemental techniques thrown at him since Jiraya was able to use all 5 elemental elements. He also started to teach Naruto the basics in the art of fuinjutsu. _"He's talented, it reminds me so much of Minato sometimes it hurts."_ thought the old hermit.

Naruto was currently working with a water balloon, Jiraya said that he needed to make the balloon pop using pure chakra only, no Wind allowed. He had started the exercise yesterday, he was making good progress and understood that he needed to spin the water inside the balloon in such a way that it would pop. _"I wonder what I'm doing wrong, maybe I should work on the path of the water inside the balloon again." _wondered the blond.

Both teacher and student were pulled out of their musing when the boat finally reached to coast.

They agreed with the captain of the boat to meet again at the same place in 2 weeks, it would give them just enough time to go back to Konoha.

"Okay here's how we will work for the next 2 weeks. You will train with me everyday from dawn to approximately 5 pm then you will be free to explore and do whatever you want from there." Announced Jiraya and Naruto nodded to him.

Two days after their arrival, Naruto finally managed to pop the water balloon using only chakra. Jiraya then made him start a harder exercise, this time he had to pop a rubber ball with his chakra.

In the mean time Naruto had started exploring the island. So far he didn't find anything interesting. Nature and Time had already erased most trace of the ancient village of Whirlpool. He remembered asking Natsuki if she knew anything but was disappointed by her answer.

_Flashback : 2 days ago_

"_Alright training is done for today, do you know where I should start to search for my mother's ancient village Na-chan?" asked Naruto._

"_**I'm sorry Naru-kun, unlike with you I didn't interact a lot with your mother. The sealing technique seems different too, I wasn't able to access her senses from inside her seal the same way I can with yours. I didn't have access to her memories either, all I know about her is what she told me on the rare occasions she visited her mindscape."** replied Natsuki._

"_It's okay Na-chan, I'm sure we'll figure out something. I still have 2 weeks left and I could always come back later." Naruto said._

_End of flashback_

Two days later Naruto succeeded in blowing up the rubber ball using his chakra, the key this time was to concentrate his chakra while applying what he learned from the first stage.

His search through his mother's hometown ruins also progressed as he was able to find the buried entrance of what must have been the Uzukage Tower considering the huge Whirlpool sign at the entrance.

He managed to clear the entrance of the rubble blocking it with the help of several Kage Bunshins. Once inside he came to a dead end, the door in front of him had a strange red seal on it.

"**That's a blood seal Naru-kun, most likely only one with Uzumaki blood can go through this door. You have to apply some of your blood on the seal and the door will open."** said Natsuki in his mind.

He did as instructed and the door opened. Inside the building most of the rooms had collapsed, he only found another room which seemingly resisted the last war. The door to that room was once again protected by a blood seal.

This room must have been a library of sort, most of the books were old and barely readable.

In the center of the room stood a strange shrine, on top of it was a scroll with the same blood seal Naruto already saw on the doors from earlier. He opened the scroll, unlocking it with his blood and his eyes widened at what he read.

_If you are reading this, then that means that your are most likely the last Uzumaki remaining in this world. Kiri, Kumo and Iwa launched a surprise attack on our village and we did not have the time to call for the help of our allies of the Leaf before they completely surrounded our lands._

_Even with our best effort we could not hold off an enemy outnumbering us 10 to 1. We have lost most of our men trying to defend the main gate of the village but it also fell this morning and now I'm one of the last standing._

_In this scroll I have sealed our two most precious treasures, first is the Uzumaki scroll of seals, it contains most of our works on fuinjutsu. Next is our sacred summoning scroll to our loyal allies of old time, the Dragons, be warned that only an Uzumaki can be accepted as a summoner for the dragons as anyone else who tries to bond with them shall die in insufferable plain._

_I have sealed these hoping that someone from our blood survived this attack and one day he or she would show the world that the Uzumaki are still alive and take our place back as one of the most powerful clan._

_Good luck, from Uzumaki Kazuma the last Uzukage of Whirpool._

Naruto decided to wait before going through the fuinjutsu scroll since he only started to learn the basics with Jiraya on it. It was nevertheless a gold mine for his future research on how to free Natsuki from the seal.

He unsealed the Dragon summoning contract and followed the instructions from the scroll and Natsuki to sign his name on it. Once done, he felt a weird sensation in his body as he was teleported from his current position to a strange place.

* * *

><p><strong>Summoning World<strong>

It seemed he was on top of a mountain, he couldn't even see the ground from where he was. He was suddenly pulled out of his musing when a huge black dragon came out of nowhere.

"**Who dares to use our old contract with the Uzumaki royal family to come to this sacred place?"** roared the creature as it landed in front of Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I found the scroll inside the ruins of the ancient village of Whirlpool." answered the blond.

"**Uzumaki you say? Be warned that you will die if you lied to me. Now come here and pass the test to prove your worth." **said the dragon.

As Naruto approached him, the dragon suddenly lashed at him and bit him on his forearm. Naruto winced at the pain but chose to stay calm as this was most likely part of the test.

"**You have indeed the blood of our loyal friends the Uzumaki flowing through your veins. You may call me Ryuou, I am the leader of the dragon family. We will answer to you call each time you ask for us Uzumaki Naruto."** Said the dragon king as he bowed to his new summoner.

"It is my honor to unite once more the Uzumaki clan to our old allies the Dragons." replied Naruto with a bow too.

"**I will see you soon young hatchling."** Said Ryuou as he unsummoned Naruto back to his original position inside the ruins of Whirlpool.

* * *

><p><strong>Back in Uzu<strong>

Naruto reappeared in the sealed room, he noticed a tattoo with the form of a dragon on his left forearm where Ryuou bit him. The scroll said it was the sign of the dragon summoner, from now on Naruto just needed to spread some blood on it and he could summon Dragons.

Having found what he looked for, he left the ruins and joined Jiraya back at their camp.

He spent the remaining days they had on the island to master the last chakra exercise Jiraya was making him perform. Turns out those exercises were the key parts in mastering a technique invented by the fourth Hokage called the **Rasengan** and Naruto managed to learn it in only 2 weeks.

When it was finally the moment to leave the island, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little sad to leave behind the only place in the world where he could feel some sort of bond to his long lost clan.

* * *

><p><strong>Timeskip – One week later<strong>

* * *

><p>They were finally back in front of the gates of Konoha, just for the day of the finals.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **What do you think? I didn't want Naruto to be a Toad summoner this time as I though I could find better to complement his godlike skills in the wind element.

I also took the liberty to make Kushina's seal different from the one Naruto has, I don't think it was ever mentioned in canon if she had a Shiki Fuujin Seal too. It serves in making Natsuki oblivious to Naruto's link with Minato.

Anyway as usual please Read & Review.


	12. Finals

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

* * *

><p>I realize last chapter had lots of information, I will try to cover some of the things I missed in this chapter. Thanks for all the reviewers who gave me feed back on what they felt was rushed.<p>

Welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12: Finals <strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha Stadium – Public Zone<strong>

Every seat in the stadium was occupied, it seemed that every ninja of the leaf not busy with patrol rounds or gate duty had come to see the chunin exam finals on this day. Of course there were lots of civilians too, curious to see the most promising generation of genin the leaf has ever produced since The legendary Sannin.

Mixed in the crowd could be seen the remaining members of the rookies 9 plus team Gai who did not qualify for the finals, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, Lee, Ino and Choji with their sensei Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai and Asuma.

All were waiting for the match to start, watching the giant screen which was displaying the match up for the upcoming match.

* * *

><p><strong>Arena<strong>

In the center of the arena stood the contestants who won their preliminary match, and a new referee in the name of Shiranui Genma.

There was a question in the mind of everyone though, _"Where the hell is Naruto?"_. Indeed the young blond had yet to arrive, a good thing that his match against Gaara was scheduled last.

Even Uchiha Sasuke, who had been training the whole month with Kakashi, had arrived earlier than expected, Kakashi saying something about not wanting to experience the joys of gate duty again.

They all turned their head in the direction of the Kage Box, Sarutobi Hiruzen was about to make a speech for the opening ceremony of the chunin exam finals.

* * *

><p><strong>Kage Box<strong>

The Sandaime stood in the Kage box, the Kazekage had also come to watch his ninja compete in the finals. He wore his Kage robe and had a veil that hides his whole face except his eyes. Each of them had two bodyguards.

After his introduction speech, Sarutobi gave the signal for the first match to begin" under the roar of the crowd.

* * *

><p><strong>Arena<strong>

"Okay you know the drill, everyone except Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuga Neji please leave the arena and go to the waiting room upstairs." said Genma.

As they all left for the waiting room, Genma explained the rules to the first contestants, basically the same rules from the preliminary part applied, winner by forfeit, referee decision, loosing consciousness or death. After receiving confirmation from both side that they understood, Genma authorized the match to begin.

* * *

><p><strong>Inuzuka Kiba versus Hyuga Neji<strong>

As Genma launched the match, Neji immediately activated his bloodline, **"Byakugan!"** he said as he fell into the Jyuken taijutsu stance.

Kiba went through hand signs and Akamaru changed into a second Kiba, **"Ninpo : Junjin Bunshin"** said the Inuzuka heir as his familiar henged into a perfect copy of himself.

"You will pay for hurting Hinata-chan!" said Kiba.

"How typical of a loser to seek comfort and revenge from another loser, but today your fate is sealed, you will lose against me." replied Neji.

Seeing that Neji was not about to move and simply waited, Kiba decided to launch the first attack, to gauge his opponent defensive ability.

"**Gatsuga !"** He yelled as a double tornado created from his and Akamaru's movements made its way towards the Hyuga prodigy.

Neji waited for the last moment until he launched his counter, **"Hakke Shou Kaiten"** he said as he expelled chakra from every tenketsu on his body, forming a perfect sphere of chakra as his body was in a repetitive rotation move.

Kiba once again experienced his trademark jutsu being countered, the memories of his match against Choji still vivid in his mind. He decided to try the same strategy he used against Choji and launched another jutsu.

"**Doton : Doryu Taiga"** he said as a torrent of mud appeared in the area, covering most of the ground and especially the ground beneath Neji's feet.

Kiba then launched another **Gatsuga** with Akamaru still following him in Neji's direction.

Neji waited the last moment again before using his **Kaiten**, and Kiba was countered just like the first time. He could even tell that his mud did not slow the Hyuga down one bit.

"Is that all you can do loser? You will never get through my absolute defense." Taunted Neji.

"Or did you thought that your ridiculous plan from the preliminary match would work against me? I can perform my **Kaiten** no matter how the ground is, I could even do it while jumping." added the prodigy.

"I've lost enough time and chakra with you, my turn to attack now. You're in my circle of divination." Neji said calmly.

"**Jyuken Hou** **Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou"** as Neji called his technique he was already in front of the first Kiba who moved directly in his path. Neji then launched a barrage of Jyuken attacks, effectively closing most of the first Kiba's tenketsus.

Turns out this Kiba was the Henged Akamaru, as he dispelled himself at the end of Neji's terrifying attack. Kiba could only watch from his place as his companion sacrificed himself to prevent his master from losing the match.

Kiba gritted his teeth in anger and chose to not let his companion's sacrifice go to a waste.

"_I'll have to use it, it's all or nothing at this point!"_ He thought as he prepared his next jutsu.

Kiba then ran towards Neji and dropped a smoke bomb at his feet.

"I can see through your smoke, fool!" Said Neji as he prepared another **Kaiten**.

"**Gatsuga"** yelled Kiba as he started his rotation move.

As Neji activated his absolute defense, Kiba suddenly dispelled his jutsu, then, still airborne, started to do new hand signs, **"Doton : Kouka no jutsu"** he said as his body turned into stone and he went right into Neji's **Kaiten**.

This time Kiba was not pushed back by the Hyuga's defense and as the rotation ended, the two opponents were still close to each other. Kiba was still standing and had his arms crossed in front of his chest in a protective guard stance.

Before Neji could move, Kiba moved his guard up to protect his face and what Neji saw on the Inuzuka's chest made him widen his eyes. Hinata in the stands, with her Byakugan activated, understood Kiba's plan and tried to tell him to stop "Kiba-kun! No don't do this!".

"_I'm sorry Hinata-chan"_ thought Kiba as the exploding tag he had planted on his chest detonated.

This time Kiba went down, even with his stone body enhancement jutsu activated he took the full blast of the explosion point blank. His body jutsu had been dispelled and he was bleeding from several spots.

Neji wasn't doing really better, even though he was a little further from the blast, he didn't have the time to activate his **Kaiten **again. He was also bleeding profusely and couldn't stand up.

Genma, seeing that no contestant could stand up, was about to call the match and declare a draw but he was stopped as Kiba slowly went back up.

He then walked towards the still down Neji,

"I may be a loser but Hinata-chan isn't. During your fight she could have easily ended your pathetic ass if she wanted with a single hand sign but she didn't. I know all about your family, Hinata-chan chose to fight you fairly and you disrespected her by your actions and your words." He said.

"You say that fate determines everything in life, so wasn't it your fate to lose when you had to go against a main house member ?" He continued and Neji still couldn't move.

Genma was about to declare Kiba the winner when the Inuzuka surprised everyone in the stadium.

"Proctor I forfeit, my companion is severely hurt so I won't be able to fight properly anyway in the next match." Said Kiba as he took Akamaru's body in his arms and left the arena.

"Winner by forfeit, Hyuga Neji!" Announced Genma as the doctors came to help Neji.

Hyuga Hiashi, seeing his nephew being transported to the infirmary, decided to have a long conversation with him about some family secrets. He thought it was time for the young boy to know about his father's sacrifice and how he too fought against his fate at the end of his life. He hoped it wasn't too late to help Neji realize that fate doesn't control everything in life.

* * *

><p>After 5 minutes of recess Genma called the next match. "Sabaku no Kankuro and Aburame Shino, please proceed to the center of the arena please."<p>

"Proctor I forfeit." Suddenly said Kankuro, _"There's no way I would reveal my hand right now, we need to follow the plan and for that Gaara has to be the one who fight first."_ thought the Suna nin.

"Winner by forfeit, Aburame Shino." Announced Genma.

The crowd was getting nervous, so, to not get too suspicious Temari decided to take action and leaped over the fence of the waiting area to descend into the arena, she landed right next to Genma.

"I think it's my turn." Said the Suna kunoichi.

"Nara Shikamaru, get your ass over here." Commanded Genma.

Shikamaru was really close to forfeit since he didn't really want to fight in the first place and he considered very troublesome that the blonde Suna kunoichi seemed really eager to start. Then the faces of his teammate Yamanaka Ino and his mother's scolding him for being a lazy bum flashed in his mind.

Deciding that he'd rather get his ass kicked by the blonde woman down there than by his mother or Ino he slowly made his way to the arena.

* * *

><p><strong>Nara Shikamaru versus Sabaku no Temari<strong>

As soon as the two fighters were ready, Genma launched the match.

The fight was clearly a different type than the first one. When the first fight was a confrontation of Power and Speed, this one was a game of Intelligence and Patience.

Both ninja were skilled strategists, and both knew of their opponent's offensive capability.

Temari remembered her opponent's **Kagemane no jutsu** from his match against the Oto kunoichi and Shikamaru remembered his opponent's wind jutsu associated to her fan and especially the **Kamaitachi no jutsu**.

Both tried to read the other one's jutsu reach and used the arena's ground to their advantage in doing so.

As Shikamaru finally succeeded in capturing Temari in his shadow manipulation jutsu, he realized that his chakra reserves were critically low and tried to think of a new plan to get out of that situation.

Unfortunately, he ran out of time and was forced to forfeit as he used most of his chakra.

"The winner for the third match is Sabaku no Temari." Declared Genma.

"The next match will start in 5 minutes." He said as Temari and Shikamaru were leaving the arena.

* * *

><p><strong>Sabaku no Gaara versus Uzumaki Naruto<strong>

When the time for the 4th match to start came, only Genma and Gaara were in the arena.

People were starting to wonder where Naruto was and Sarutobi allowed a 5 minutes extended time for Naruto to arrive or be disqualified.

There was only 5 seconds left remaining when the wind suddenly picked up. Soon a giant tornado appeared in the middle of the arena. Seconds later as the wind finally vanished, Naruto could be seen standing where the giant tornado was just a moment ago. Jiraya took this opportunity to shunshin just behind Sarutobi at the same time.

"I trust that Naruto is ready Jiraya?" Asked the Sandaime.

"Of course he is, who do you think trained him sensei?" Replied the hermit before taking a look at his student.

"I'm not late, am I?" asked Naruto with a grin.

"You're right on time Naruto." replied Genma with a smirk as he motioned for the match to start.

"**Get ready Naru-kun, this will be the hardest one you had to fight until now, even harder than against Zabuza."** Natsuki told him.

"I know Na-chan." Replied Naruto as he fell into his Kitsune taijutsu stance, **_"Kaze no Yoroi"_** called Naruto in his mind as wind chakra flowed through his body.

Gaara just stood silent as a cloud of sand started to get out of his gourd, then he suddenly pointed his arm in Naruto's direction and called his first jutsu.

"**Sabaku Kyu"** He said as a wall of sand made its way towards Naruto.

"**Futon : Furyudan no jutsu"** Naruto used to counter the sand mass aimed at him.

The two attack collided in an explosion of sand, Naruto didn't loose time as he immediately called his next jutsu already going through hand signs.

"**Futon : Tsubame Gaeshi"** This time a wave of steel composed by dozens of kunai made its way around Gaara then randomly changed its path to point at the back of the Suna shinobi.

Gaara didn't even blink as all the sand which was blown away by Naruto's attack just seconds ago, moved back behind him to intercept the incoming bird of steel.

Naruto's attack was not able to break through Gaara's defense and his shadow kunai were all blocked then dispelled, only leaving the two true kunai Naruto used for his jutsu embedded in the ground behind Gaara.

* * *

><p><strong>Spectators<strong>

Everyone in the stadium was stunned at the display of all those high level techniques. What was even more surprising is that except for those who saw the preliminary fights, no one ever saw any of those jutsu. The blond was throwing high level wind jutsu while the red head used weird sand jutsu and neither of them seemed to need hand signs to perform them.

Sasuke, who had been waiting for his turn, seethed at not being able to copy any of those jutsu with his Sharingan.

* * *

><p><strong>Arena<strong>

Gaara decided to attack again as he charged chakra and launched another **Sabaku Kyu** at Naruto, this one though, had a lot more chakra.

The wave of sand approached Naruto with twice the speed it had during the first time, forcing the blond to reveal his true speed as he evaded every tendrils of sand aimed at him and reappeared on the other side of the stadium in Gaara's back.

Naruto took out two more kunai and coated them with wind chakra, **_"Futon: Futago Kaze Ken no jutsu"_** he called in his mind. He then used his **Kitsune Yuurei no Jutsu** high speed illusion movement as he charged at Gaara leaving four trails of after-images.

Not able to detect which phantom approaching was a fake, Gaara's automatic defense was not able to block Naruto's attack this time. Naruto's attack managed to connect with Gaara's shoulder, drawing the first blood of the match.

The whole Suna delegation was shocked that someone was finally able to injure their weapon, said Weapon was the most shocked of them as he never experienced the feeling of losing his own blood due to an injury.

Gaara managed to force Naruto to fall back and drop his two kunai as his **Sabaku Kyu** was a lot faster when used in close range. He then recalled all his sand and with a single hand sign gave his sand the form of a sphere around him, recovering him completely.

A smaller orb of sand started to gather higher in the sky and soon took the form of an eye, **"Daisan no Me"** could be heard from within the sand sphere.

Naruto had only a few seconds to stare at the strange eye floating in the air when another jutsu was called from inside the sphere, **"Suna Shuriken"**.

A barrage of sand missiles were launched from the sand structure and aimed directly at Naruto who could only dodge while running around.

Naruto understood how his opponent's combo worked and was impressed.

Gaara increased his overall defense after being hit by the **Kitsune Yuurei **combined to the **Kaze Ken** by creating a full sphere of solid sand around him and overcame the drawback of not being able to see outside by having that third eye jutsu spying on the battlefield for him.

Those **Suna Shuriken** were no laughing matter either, being less heavy and more dense than a regular shuriken, their speed was faster and their power stronger.

Naruto tried his combo again as he charged another **Kitsune Yuurei** with two new **Kaze Ken**, however this time the 3 illusions went through the sand sphere with no reaction from it and the structure only reacted to the real Naruto and sent tendrils of sand in his path.

As he was countered, Naruto received a deep injury in his right shoulder and started to bleed from there. He decided to fall back to the other end of the arena in order to think about his next move.

"_His new defense is truly something. The sand in it is a lot more dense than what he showed me earlier and I won't be able to pierce it with any of my wind jutsu."_

"_A **Rasengan** wouldn't work either, as long as he has that sand around him I can't get close. Anko-sensei was right, I didn't even notice his counter before it was already too late. I will only try the Rasengan if I manage to get passed his defense first."_

"_I need something to get rid of that sand, now for the nature of sand ..."_ his eyes widened as he finally found a way.

He used some blood that was coming from his shoulder injury to coat his thumb with it then applied it to his tattoo on his forearm. He then went through hand signs and called his jutsu, **"Ninpo : Kuchiyose no jutsu"** and pushed his hands on the ground where a puff of smoke appeared.

Out of the smoke flew out a huge red dragon, with Naruto on its back. It had four muscular limbs and very large wings.

In the stands, everyone was shocked at the sight of the mystical beast. Sarutobi looked at Jiraya and asked "Jiraya, where the hell did he get a dragon summoning contract?".

"He found it during our training, you know where..., one day he came back with a tattoo and the scroll. I was so shocked I couldn't make him the next toad sage that I didn't even insist on knowing more, you'll have to ask him for details." Replied the hermit looking back towards Naruto.

"**I am Hiryu, a fire dragon. How may I be of assistance Naruto-sama?"** asked the winged creature to its summoner.

"I need you to launch you most powerful fireball in that mass of sand in the center of the arena Hiryu." Said Naruto.

"**It shall be done, at your command Naruto-sama."** Replied the dragon as it was ready to fire.

As they flew right above the sand sphere Naruto gave his summon the signal to fire and launched his own jutsu, **"Futon : Ten'Ka Furyu En'dan" **He called as his wind dragon combined to Hiryu's fireball to form a gigantic blazing dragon of chakra.

The jutsu hit the sand dome, covering the whole stadium with smoke.

As the smoke cleared out, instead of a dome of sand stood a dome of glass. The more experienced ninja in the crowd understood Naruto's objective and had to applaud his plan. He used science and the reaction of sand turning into glass when heated at high temperature.

Naruto jumped out of his dragon and dispelled it then landed right in front of the glass structure.

He then charged another jutsu that shocked everyone knowing its creator, **"Rasengan"** he said as an orb of visible chakra appeared in his right hand. He slammed it into the dome and went right through it, taking a shocked Gaara by surprise.

The ball of chakra expanded then left Naruto's hand and continued its path towards the arena's wall, dragging along a screaming and bleeding Gaara. When the jutsu dissipated, an unconscious Gaara laid with his back to the wall.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ** What do you think? I tried to use everything Naruto learned during his training with Jiraya during his fight with Gaara.

It is, of course, far from over since neither of them used demonic chakra yet. You will have to see how it turns out in the next chapter.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

**Futon : Ten'Ka Furyu En'dan** , Blazing Wind Dragon Combination. Naruto combines his wind dragon with another source of fire.


	13. Clash of the Titans

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Well I'm pleased with the reader's reaction to last chapter. According to the reviews, most enjoyed it while some found it too short or unrealistic that Naruto won against Gaara in that manner or the correct expression was 'bulldozed over another jinchuriki' without using their bijuu. Well good news for all, (AND as I said in the ending note of last chapter prior to any editing work) the fight is not over …<p>

Finally, to those who find Naruto too powerful, or the pairing with Natsuki unrealistic, well not much I can or want to do about it, the summary of the story is pretty simple but covers it all, those two themes are the core of my story and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Many thanks to my regular reviewers pointing out spelling/translation/syntax errors in my writing.

Welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 13: Clash of the Titans<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha Stadium – Arena<strong>

Naruto looked at what his jutsu just did, sure he remembered his training and performing it against large trees or rocks but this was the first time he used **Rasengan** against another human being.

The result was astonishing and terrifying at the same time. He knew he could have put more chakra in the orb before releasing it, the result would have been him tearing a hole inside of his opponent's body instead of just scratching him.

He stood there in the middle of the arena, lost in his thoughts and trying to catch his breath.

* * *

><p><strong>Spectators seats<strong>

Most of the spectators were stunned to see the **Rasengan** again. That was one of the two signature moves of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato. Few of them knew Jiraya could also use it but the old pervert was almost never in Konoha, the rare times he was there, the hermit just visited the Sandaime or went to the red light district.

"_How the hell did Naruto learned Minato-sensei's jutsu"_ Thought Kakashi.

"_What is that jutsu? I couldn't copy it either. How did he progress so much in only a month? Is Kakashi the right sensei for me? What have I been doing all this time?"_ Were the questions flashing through Sasuke's mind.

"_Kushina-sensei would have been so proud of you Naruto, show them, show them all your true worth." _Thought Kurenai with pride looking at her sensei's son.

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><p><strong>Arena<strong>

Seeing the unmoving form of Gaara, Genma was about to end the match and announce Naruto as the winner when an explosion of chakra shook the whole stadium, a thick cloud of dust and sand preventing anyone from seeing what was happening in the arena.

"_So it has finally come to this..."_ Thought Naruto looking in the direction of the demonic chakra leaking inside the arena.

"**The real fight starts now Naru-kun, be careful and remember the techniques you learned"** Said Natsuki.

When the dust settled down, Gaara's new form appeared in front of everyone. He looked like a chimera, a mix between including his old body, some overgrown sand armor and some bestial features, as could be seen a tail behind his back and his two pointy ears.

"**I'm free after so long, the boy is finally asleep." **Roared the beast.

"How unpleasant to finally meet you Shukaku" Answered Naruto as he took off his protection vest and teared his right hand sleeve, revealing a strange tattoo in the form of a fox on his right biceps.

"**Remember you only control one of my tail so far Naru-kun"** Warned Natsuki as she knew Naruto was about to unleash her powers.

"_I know Na-chan, this youki storage seal only contains one tail worth of your youki so far. I'll have to read the Uzumaki scroll again to know how to boost its storage capacity up."_ Replied Naruto as he spread some of his blood over his fox tattoo.

Once done another surge of chakra resonated in the arena, this time Naruto was the cause. The activation of his seal, or deactivation depending on how you see it, managed to fuse on tail worth of Natsuki's power to his own. His eyes were blood red instead of his natural blue ones and he had an aura of visible red chakra surrounding his whole body.

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><p><strong>Kage Box<strong>

Sarutobi's eyes widened at the display of power in the arena. He then turned to his old student and started to whisper.

"Jiraya, what was the seal he released just before that second chakra surge? And is it demonic chakra I feel?" asked the Sandaime to his student.

"Yes that's a seal we came up with together, while going through the scroll he found on his family's fuinjutsu. It allows him to store demonic chakra, or youki as he calls it, for future use. Furthermore, it is completely harmless for his body since it doesn't come directly from the fox but has been filtered through that special purification seal." replied the Gama sennin to his sensei.

The Kazekage, who was of course out of hearing range from the previous conversation, was seething at what he saw, first the arrival of the Gama sennin. He knew he could deal with Sarutobi but Jiraya's arrival changed everything.

Then his trump card in destabilizing Konoha's forces, the Ichibi, was being pushed around by a mere genin.

Finally, it turns out that mere genin was most likely the host for the Kyuubi no Yoko and seemed to have some control over his demonic powers, very unlike Gaara.

The most logical decision right there was to cancel the invasion and discretely pull back all his pawns before being discovered and loosing the element of surprise. His spies in the stadium were still waiting for his signal to launch the operation but he decided to wait a little more before making a decision.

* * *

><p><strong>Arena<strong>

Shukaku decided to attack first, he took a deep breath and filled his lungs with air then violently expelled it while calling his jutsu **"Futon : Renkudan"**, a huge mass of pressurized air went it Naruto's direction.

With his chakra reserves to the max again, Naruto decided to use one of his more chakra taxing counter as he charged wind chakra to his hands and slammed them to the ground while calling the jutsu in his mind _**"Futon : Higuma Otoshi"**_. This was the same move he used against Zabuza's water dragon in Wave Country.

Naruto was shielded from Shukaku's missile behind his wind wall, the mass of condensed air just impacted the rising wind column Naruto made without dealing any damage.

This angered Shukaku, not liking the sight of his jutsu being easily countered, launched the same attack again, only this time instead of one air cannon ball he used three of them. Naruto looked at the sky, smirking as he saw a huge dark cloud forming above them as he continued to absorb every air missile the Ichibi was throwing at him and redirecting them into the sky.

Naruto then took out a special looking kunai and threw it in the direction of the raccoon hybrid, going through hand signs as the kunai left his hand. Only a few in the crowd recognized the sequence of hand signs he did, to the others it looked vaguely familiar. As he ended the last hand sign Naruto called his jutsu out loud, **"Futon : Houou Gaeshi"**.

"**Uzumaki Naruto, I don't know what you're trying to do but that jutsu of yours won't be able to pierce my defense. I was aware of my surroundings when you were fighting the boy, so even if your kunai reach my back with that strange technique, it won't damage me."** Said the Ichibi.

True to his words, the kunai first divided itself in a dozen of kunai, then they all changed their course and went to target his back like he saw when Naruto first used the **Tsubame Gaeshi**. He didn't even feel the need to raise some kind of defense to intercept the incoming kunai.

To his surprise though, as they were close to hitting him he could clearly see that those kunai weren't regular kunai, they all had exploding tags attached to them and they were all ready to blow.

Before he could react, the exploding tags all detonated, creating a huge flame that combined with Naruto's original wind attack looked like a bird of fire. The fire predator impacted Shukaku in his back. The roar and cries of agony from the beast sent chills down everyone's spine in the stadium, as large flames were surrounding its body.

Naruto then used his speed to appear behind him and sent a powerful kick to the back of its head, forcibly sending him in the center of the arena.

He then did a single hand sign and the four kunai he seemingly accidentally dropped to the ground during the first part of the fight started to glow, revealing that they were actually placed in a perfect square position all around the Ichibi.

"**Uzumaki Hijutsu : Akuma Sokubaku Wana"** Called Naruto as his trap was activated and four dark chains went out of the ground and each went to tightly restrain one of the beast's limb.

Shukaku with a large part of his body still lit on fire, tried to force his way out of the chains but felt his strength being rapidly drained away, most likely by those chains.

Naruto then channeled wind to his hands again and called his next jutsu, **_"Futon : Kirin Otoshi"_** as he slammed his hands on the ground just in front of his opponent's feet.

A new column of air rose from the ground, with the still restrained and burning Shukaku as its base and the large dark cloud as its top. Seconds later a large thunderbolt left the cloud and fell directly on the trapped demon, using the conductive chains as an entry point then dispersing into the ground.

The energy behind Naruto's last attack was high enough to literally melt the Ichibi's guard, turning the **Suna no Yoroi** recovering most of its body into glass then shattering it into pieces, also taking away the chains and kunai that served to trap it.

The jutsu was covered by a blinding white light, when everyone's eyes started to recover from the blinding flash, all they saw in the arena was an unconscious Gaara on the floor, gone were the extra appendages of sand on his body, gone was all trace of demonic chakra coming from him as well.

Naruto was standing a few feet away, his aura of chakra also dispelled and he had recovered his deep blue eyes again. He looked slightly tired but did not seem hurt, his injury from the first part of the match against Gaara already healed.

Genma, who had taken refuge in a corner of the arena, made his way back to the center of the arena. He crouched down to check on the status of the Suna shinobi. He was able to feel a pulse from the young red head and let sigh escape his mouth as he stood up and looked at the audience.

Everyone in the stadium was silent, waiting for the referee's announcement, you could hear the wind blow and several noises from outside the walls of the stadium and the silence was starting to get heavy when Genma finally decided to speak.

"Sabaku no Gaara is unconscious and consequently unable to continue the fight, the winner of the fight is Uzumaki Naruto, winner by knock out." Finally said the bandana wearing referee.

After a few more seconds of silence, suddenly all hell broke loose as the entire stadium was on its feet, applauding for one Uzumaki Naruto.

The pariah of the Leaf stood there in the center of the arena, not knowing how to react to the cheers, admiration looks and cries of joy he saw and heard in the crowd.

* * *

><p><strong>Spectators seats<strong>

Kiba and Hinata who had come back just before the last attack were happy for their teammate and clapping their hands like everyone around them.

Kurenai was proud of her student and found funny that he didn't know how to react in that situation.

The other students were stunned at the level of skill displayed by their fellow genin comrade.

Several chunin and jonin made comments about Naruto's growth and how he seemed in full control of the Kyuubi's powers during his fight. They could see first hand the difference between a host controlled by his beast in the image of Gaara and one who had the control over his inner demon looking at Naruto.

The several foreign ninja who came to watch the match while impressed by the fight just like everybody around them, also noted in a corner of their mind to speak with their leader about this really talented though extremely dangerous new talent the Leaf had, for future reference.

The shallow civilians who had hated Naruto for most of his life now looked up to him and cheered for him as if they were long friends.

* * *

><p><strong>Kage Box<strong>

In the Kage box, the reactions were mixed.

The Kazekage was silent. _"Damn it ! With Gaara out of the picture I can forget about the invasion, it was already looking bad with the addition of Jiraya but now I just lost my trump card."_ He thought.

"_I have no choice, I'll have to call it off"_ mused the masked Kage as he made a discrete sign to someone in the spectators area.

At the same time, Sarutobi and Jiraya were celebrating for the young blond.

"It reminds you of another certain blond hair blue eyed boy Jiraya, doesn't it?" asked Sarutobi to his student.

"Yes sensei, it certainly does." Replied the toad sage before adding "I can't believe he went that far in only a month, I taught him the **Rasengan** in only two weeks, it took me months to master that. I only taught him the basics in fuinjutsu and he was able to create such an intricate trap based on them in the middle of a damn match."

"Are you disappointed that he will not take over you as the next toad sage now that he is the summoner of the legendary contract of the dragons?" asked the Sandaime.

"I would lie if I said that it doesn't affect me, but I know that I can't request anything from him, after all I'm his godfather and I was never there for him when he needed me." Said a serious Jiraya.

"You had no choice in the matter, we both know he would have faced the same or worse dangers if he went with you during your travels." Said Sarutobi as he continued with a subject he had wanted to talk about with Jiraya for a long time already.

"We will have to tell him the truth about his father soon Jiraya."

"I know sensei, let's wait for the end of the tournament." replied the senin.

"He makes a good chunin don't you think?" Asked the old Kage.

"He sure does." Said Jiraya with pride in his voice.

* * *

><p><strong>Arena<strong>

"Since Uzumaki Naruto has to fight again, it is only fair to have a break now, the finals will resume in one hour." Called Genma.

As Naruto was granted a 1 hour pause, the crowd also used that time to go refresh themselves, eat and rest from the mentally exhausting match they just saw.

When the time was over, everyone was back in their seat.

Naruto stood in the center of the arena, he had go home to change his clothes and took a rapid meal at the Ichiraku ramen bar on the way.

Genma was also there but Sasuke was still nowhere to be found.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Before anyone starts to complain about how I could have a "semi" transformed Gaara hybrid form be controlled by Shukaku, well if Naruto can get to this stage in canon why not Gaara. I think that as long as he's asleep or in this case unconscious anything is possible.

Next, YES this time the fight is over between the two jinchuiki and they used their demonic chakra. Sure Naruto kicked his ass again but when you look at it, from what we saw in canon Shukaku only used the **Futon : Renkudan** so there's no way he can beat this version of Naruto while using wind techniques.

About the fuinjutsu trap, I did mention him dropping those kunai I my last chapter, that wasn't for nothing :)

Finally, the invasion is called off. I was wondering how Orochimru would have done it in canon if Sarutobi had any S class fighter to his side during the whole thing. The answer is he would not have been able to pull it off, seeing how he struggled to fight only Sarutobi, there's no way he could have defeated him with someone of Kage rank next to the old man.

Where the hell is Sasuke, wait the next time to see :)

As usual Read & Review please.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu:<strong>

**Futon : Houou Gaeshi** , Phoenix Return, Improved version of the Tsubame Gaeshi. Instead of cloning regular kunai from the previous attack Naruto use kunai with exploding tags, creating a flying phoenix aimed at the back of his opponent.

**Uzumaki Hijutsu : Akuma Sokubaku Wana** , Uzumaki secret Style : Demonic Restraining Trap. Naruto uses four special kunai with fuinjutsu seals engraved on them to form a field that reacts to demonic chakra when Naruto activates the trap. The result is the apparition of chakra draining steel chains that prevent the target to escape.

**Futon : Kirin Otoshi** , Kirin Drop, Modified version of the Higuma Otoshi. Naruto deflects opponent's elemental jutsu to modify the weaver above him, like canon's Sasuke, he uses the clouds and the property of high differential temperature within them to create natural thunderbolts.


	14. Respect and Fear

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Great reviews again for last chapter, the youki converterstorage seal and the chakra draining trap have been really well received by the readers.

I have already answered to the people who asked via pm but I guess I'll write it here too, Naruto will use several type of Dragon, they are not really classified by the eastern/western concept, more like I will separate them by their functional use. The class shall be Boss, Elder, Elemental, Scout, Transport... . Each class will have a definite build to fit their use.

Welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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><p><strong>Chapter 14: Respect and Fear<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha Stadium – Arena<strong>

Naruto was waiting for his next match to start. The break allowed him to replenish some of the chakra he used during his fight against Gaara but it was still nowhere near his full potential.

Thinking about the other jinchuruki made him remember the words they shared after the red head finally woke up.

_Flashback : Stadium entrance - Twenty minutes ago_

_After coming back from the break, Naruto had met the Hokage on his way to the contestant's waiting area._

"_There you are Naruto-kun, that was a great performance earlier." Said Sarutobi to his surrogate grandson._

"_Thanks Jiji, it's all thanks to the training I went through last month. Ero-sennin may seem lazy sometimes but during training he's a real slave driver." Replied Naruto._

_The Sandaime chuckled at the nickname Naruto gave to his old student. After all, if even HE, the Shinobi no Kami, could not get the boy to call him by a respectful name, there was no way he would accept that Naruto calls Jiraya by a formal name._

"_Well it's all good but I came here to tell you personally that in order to continue the tournament, I want you to check in at the infirmary to see if everything is alright first. You had an incredibly hard fight just an hour ago." Announced the old man._

"_But I'm perfectly fine Jiji!" Replied Naruto, due to his traumatic childhood experiences, he never liked hospitals, doctors or nurses._

"_It's alright Naruto, I selected the staff myself, they all moved in Konoha recently and hold no grudge against you for your 'burden'." Said Sarutobi._

"_Fine I'll go, but I tell you I'm fine ..." Replied Naruto as he made his way to the infirmary._

_As he went inside, he was surprised to see Gaara in one of the bed. The jinchuriki was alone with the medical staff. His eyes were opened and he just seemed lost in his thoughts._

"_I see you woke up, how do you feel?" Asked Naruto._

"_It's been a long time since I last had a moment of sleep, what happened?" Replied the red head._

_Naruto told him how the fight went after he had lost consciousness. Gaara was surprised someone the same age as him was able to subdue the beast, he wanted to know more about this mysterious blond boy._

"_Why did you not finish me when you had the chance, I threatened you on several occasions and had it been me in your shoes I would have not spared you." He said with no emotion._

"_Because I too experienced the pain, I too felt the loneliness. I am also hated by most of the villagers for something I had no control about, we share the same 'burden'." Replied Naruto as Gaara's eyes widened at the revelation._

"_Then why are you not … like me?" Asked Gaara, still feeling the murderous aura of the Ichibi inside him as they spoke._

"_It all changed when I met her, I realized I wasn't alone anymore. Even me, the pariah, the demon, the monster as they all called me, had some people I could honestly call my family even if we don't share the same blood." Naruto said._

"_So that's why you are strong, I wish I had people like yours, or that we met earlier." Said the Suna genin._

"_Well I don't know about your village, but at least your brother and sister seemed concerned about you after our fight was over, or during your fight with Lee. Moreover, I think there's something wrong with your seal. I'm a beginner but one of my teacher is a master in the art. He could take a look at it one day, to see if we can get you to have some control over your burden and maybe catch a good night of sleep." Replied Naruto with a smile._

"_I would like that." Said Gaara with the first smile he ever showed to anyone. The smile disappeared almost immediately and he spoke again._

"_I think there's something you and your leader needs to know, it's about some ex ninja of yours trying to destroy the Leaf with the help of Suna ..." Started Gaara._

_End of flashback_

Naruto ran off to the old man right after his meeting with Gaara. He told him everything, how Orochimaru had allied himself with Suna and had planned the destruction of the Leaf. Where all the enemy forces were hiding and their strategy.

Naruto also told Sarutobi that even if Konoha was a primary target of his old student, Sasuke was the secondary target. The snake planned to have him kidnapped during the confusion.

Sarutobi was shocked first, his peaceful and trusting character could not believe that Orochimaru would sink so low and that Suna was also working with the traitor.

That second thought made him frown, he knew the Kazekage for a long time and this course of action did not look like what the man would do. Adding to the fact that the man's chakra signature sitting right next to him during the finals felt highly familiar, the old man understood everything.

He mobilized his Anbu immediately and called for a meeting with Baki, the second highest ranking officer in the Suna delegation. Said man already had his doubts and noticed a few strange events around the current Kazekage but could not prove anything. What definitely convinced him was Naruto coming into the meeting with all the three Suna siblings, all attesting that their father had been effectively acting strangely in the past weeks.

A plan was devised very quickly with the help of Shikaku Nara, Konoha's most brilliant strategist and the participation of Baki and all those he could reach and convince from their troops that their leader was not the man they thought.

Uchiha Sasuke had also been pulled off the grid and placed in a secured place by a patrol of Anbu.

* * *

><p><strong>Back in the Arena<strong>

Naruto was pulled out of his musing as he saw the Sandaime back in the Kage box, the old man gave him a discrete nod.

* * *

><p><strong>Kage Box<strong>

As the Sandaime was taking his seat, Orochimaru was seething that his plan was foiled by the intervention of Jiraya and the Kyuubi brat.

The snake couldn't even leave since he supposedly still had a ninja fighting in the exams, that would be highly suspicious. Moreover his spies reported that they lost the trail of Uchiha Sasuke as the boy was making his way to the stadium. Everything seemed to go wrong on this day and calling off the invasion was most likely the best thing he did today.

Sarutobi then decided to play a little game and definitely verify the man's identity, "That was a great performance earlier, a shame your shinobi lost."

"Indeed, I was sure my son would have won his fight and then faced the last Uchiha in the following fight, speaking of that I don't see the Uchiha." replied the veiled Kage.

"_No doubt about it now, the Kazekage I remember never calls Gaara his son."_ confirmed Sarutobi as he gave Jiraya a nod.

The Kazekage felt a strange sensation and immediately recognized the effect of what seemed to be a large scale genjutsu cast all over the stadium. He knew he had given the signal to abort the operation so it couldn't be his subordinate's jutsu. Then his eyes widened, he understood Konoha had discovered his plan and tried to use it against him.

All of a sudden, a smoke bomb was thrown in the room. Both Sarutobi and Jiraya leaped back from the fake Kazekage and his bodyguards in surprise.

They were about to try to arrest them but were not fast enough as Orochimaru and his men managed to fall back and then escaped to the rooftop of the stadium.

* * *

><p><strong>Rooftop<strong>

What they saw as they reached the top made them frown, all over the village and even inside the stadium, Oto shinobi were being slaughtered by both Konoha and Suna nins. Orochimaru realized the situation just went from bad to worse. He was joined by Kabuto after a few seconds.

"Our forces are targeted and destroyed all around the village Orochimaru-sama." reported his right hand man.

"How about the troops outside the village?"

"It's the same as inside, Suna has turned against us and they can't get into the village." Replied Kabuto.

"Go ahead and order them to fall back to Otogakure." Announced Orochimaru.

"How about the troops inside the village my lord?" Asked Kabuto.

"You have your orders." Said the snake sennin.

"Very well Orochimaru-sama." Answered Kabuto as he shunshined away.

Orochimaru then turned to his elite guard, "Have you done what I asked of you?".

"Hai Orochimaru-sama !" Replied the four shinobi kneeling before him.

"Good, now leave I will join you soon." He ordered and they all left without a word.

Just then, Sarutobi, Jiraya and a team of Anbu arrived on the roof.

"This is the end Orochimaru, I will finish what I started years ago but this time I won't let you escape." Declared Sarutobi.

"The end? Your old age must be getting to you sensei. You may have won today but I promise you Konoha will burn. I will come back another day for your head you old fool." Replied the snake.

"Do you honestly think I will let you get away after all this?" Said Jiraya.

"I see you are still the loyal dog of Konoha you always were Jiraya." Replied Orochimaru.

As they were about to charge at him, Orochimaru did a single hand sign and suddenly detonations could be heard all over the village. This is what he ordered his men to do, they planted exploding tags that could be activated with his chakra all over Konoha.

The traitorous snake then used this distraction to shunshin away from there.

"Leave him be, we don't have the time to run after him. At this rate a full scale fight with him inside the village would cost us a lot in terms of human lives and repairs to be done after that." Said the Sandaime. He then turned to the Anbu commander, "After dispatching the enemies inside the village do not pursue them outside and just help stabilize the situation inside."

The Anbu immediately departed from the roof to relay the new orders.

"He will come back you know, sensei." Said Jiraya in a serious tone.

"Yes I know, that is why I wish to give you a new mission after everything is over here." Replied an equally serious Sarutobi.

* * *

><p><strong>Inside the Stadium<strong>

Almost every disguised Oto nin had been neutralized by the combined forces of Konoha and Suna.

The large scale genjutsu used earlier was in fact the work of Kurenai, it was a simple sleeping genjutsu. Everyone under the rank of chunin had been put to sleep for their own safety, including the civilians and the nobles guests.

A small number of genin did manage to resist the jutsu, Shino, Shikamaru and the Sand siblings.

Naruto had been awaken by Kurenai after she finished her jutsu. All of them assisted in dispatching the enemy shinobi forces.

* * *

><p><strong>Timeskip – Council Chamber, One week later<strong>

* * *

><p>One week had passed since the day of the failed invasion of Konoha by Orochimaru. Sarutobi was currently debriefing his council about the aftermath of the battles.<p>

"We lost 31 civilians, 57 shinobi and we have over 200 wounded. Suna lost 48 shinobi and it has been confirmed by Jiraya-sama himself that the Kazekage has been murdered weeks before the day of the finals." Reported the Anbu Commander to the council.

"We estimate that Orochimaru lost more than 300 shinobi and we captured 117 of his men." Announced Ibiki.

"The damage to the structures all around Konoha were extensive, I estimate that the repairs will be complete in approximately three months." Added Shikaku.

Sarutobi took a moment to think then addressed the council.

"Very well, we have confirmation that Suna has been played by Orochimaru and was not voluntary in this invasion. For the duration of the repairs, all genin will be confined inside the village to help and their jonin will be re-affected to higher missions outside the village to maintain our position of the strongest ninja village." Announced the Hokage.

"Furthermore, it has come to my attention that within the lives we lost in our shinobi forces, most were chunin ranks. Therefore, I will now announce the nominations for chunin promotions from the current exams." Added the Sandaime.

"The contestants nominated are Aburame Shino, Hyuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto." Said Sarutobi.

Every council member was nodding until they heard the last name which caused an uproar from the civilian side.

"What!" "Why him?" "We cannot let that thing advance in the ranks!" Were the things shouted from the civilian side.

Sarutobi then flared his chakra in the room, silencing them.

"Did you fools not see his skills at the exams? If I only had one spot for the chunin promotion, it would go to him automatically. He managed to subdue by himself an enemy jinchuriki who went berserk."

"And do I need to remind to you that promotions of MY shinobi only concerns the ninja side of the council, I do NOT require your permission."

"Moreover, Naruto was the one who saved all your lives again as he is the one who warned me about the invasion after he talked to the Suna jinchuriki after their fight."

"Finally, not only you fools were looking at him in the finals. Foreign shinobi were also in the stadium as we open our gates to everyone during those times. Who do you think they will all report to their leaders about first when they come back to their village?"

No one could find any argument to counter the Kami no Shinobi and he then dismissed them all.

* * *

><p><strong>Timeskip – Hokage office, One week later<strong>

* * *

><p>True to his words Sarutobi had to sigh again as he opened the last edition of the bingo book when he saw that Naruto's profile had been updated. It read :<p>

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Nickname : **Konoha's Kaze No Kami

**Age : **13

**Rank : **A+

**Status : **Chunin

**Main attribute: **Kenjutsu, Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu

**Affinities : **Wind

**Bloodline : **Unknown

**Description : **Has a very high affinity to the Wind element

Holder of the mythical Dragon summoning contract

**Defeated** Momochi Zabuza the Kirigakure No Kijin in Wave Country

**Defeated** Sabaku no Gaara the Suna's Ichibi Jinchuriki

**Action : **Engage with caution

**Bounty :** 30,000,000 Ryo Dead or Alive in Iwa

Apparently, news of Naruto's progress traveled fast. Iwa had the habit to target any promising shinobi from Konoha so that wasn't really a shock either.

Just then he was interrupted from his reading by the appearance of Naruto and Jiraya in his office.

"Good to see you both here, I have an important mission for you two."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Okay no real fight scenes in this chapter but you can't have them in all chapter either :)

I saw no point in having Sasuke getting his ass kicked again and in front of all Konoha so I bailed him out.

Naruto gets his first bounty on his head, not sure about currencies so I went with something I could relate to from One Piece universe which was something close to Luffy's first one I think.

As usual Read and Review please.


	15. The Price of Glory

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I don't really know what changed but since the beginning of the week, my story got the double amount of hits and visitors each day. Usually getting like 3k hits a day, now it ranges from 5k to 6k which is a great accomplishment for me.<p>

Reactions to the way the invasion played out were great too, I feared people wanted to see Sasuke fighting or getting his ass kicked but it seems his eviction was fine too.

This chapter marks the beginning of a new arc, some of you already guessed the content of Naruto's next mission.

A special mention to 'ItaNaru yaoi fangirl' who was the first to note that most of the techniques I came up with for Naruto were inspired from another manga I also enjoy, Prince of Tennis ;)

Welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 15: The Price of Glory<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

Sarutobi sat in his office, in front of him were standing Naruto with his new chunin vest and Jiraya.

"Naruto-kun, sit down please we need to talk. Now the last events from two weeks ago taught me one thing, do you know what I learned ?" Asked the old man.

"That you shouldn't let masked men sit near you during official meetings ?" Replied the blond with a smirk, making the two other people in the room chuckle at his reply.

"No Naruto-kun, I learned that I'm getting old, too old in fact to continue to keep this hat." Said Sarutobi as he took off his Hokage hat.

Naruto's eyes widened at the sight, "Y-You're finally giving me the Hat Jiji ?" asked an astonished Naruto.

After a few seconds where both Sarutobi and Jiraya had serious faces, almost too serious in fact, all of a sudden all hell broke loose, "Hahahahaha … That's not nice to laugh Jiraya ! Hahahaha ..." started Sarutobi.

"But … but did you see his face, hahahaha, this is too much Naruto you are the best !" Continued the pervert.

The poor Naruto was red in anger and embarrassment, he could also hear the hidden Anbu behind the walls laughing their hearts out as well.

After a few moments, the older people in the room and in the walls finally calmed down.

"No Naruto, as much as I would like for you to become my successor, you are not quite ready for that yet. Don't let it get to you, this may not be your time yet but I know that time will come and I'm sure Jiraya feels the same about this." Said Sarutobi getting a nod from the hermit.

Naruto then gave them a bright smile and then let Sarutobi continue.

"I called you both here today for an important mission Naruto, A rank at least." Naruto's eyes widened at this, his first A rank mission as an official chunin.

"Your mission is to go find my old student and teammate of Jiraya, her name is Senju Tsunade and she is the one chosen to replace me." Finished the Kage.

"Okay if she's Ero-sennin's old teammate then I guess she's strong enough to have the Hat and to protect Konoha. When do we leave ?" Said Naruto making the two men smile.

"The mission will start in two hours, now there's something else we must discuss ..." Started Sarutobi as he made hand signs to seal the room from any spying activity.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, what could be more secret than the identity of the next hokage ?

"Naruto, you have to promise me to stay calm and let me finish talking before you say anything." asked Sarutobi with the most serious tone Naruto ever heard from him.

"Good, now I know Natsuki already explained you who your mother was ..." He got a nod from the blond.

"Well this is about your other parent, Naruto this is about your father ..." At this point Naruto jumped up from his seat with his eyes wide opened, looking at the Hokage, a million thoughts crossing his mind.

Seeing this Jiraya came up to him and put a hand on his apprentice's shoulder before saying "I know you were always told that no one knew who your father was, that your mother never told anyone, but that was a lie." Said Jiraya as he felt Naruto's body starting to shake under his hand.

"Naruto, your father was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage and my student." Finally said Jiraya looking into the blond's eyes.

"B-But … Then … How … Why ?" Were the only words coming out of Naruto's mouth.

"I'm so sorry my boy, I know you always wanted to know about you father. Learning that your father, the man who you consider as your idol, the one who sealed Natsuki in you and condemn you to a life of misery are one and the same person must hurt you terribly but you have to understand the reasons." Pleaded the old man.

"Minato was a man loved by all inside the Leaf but he was also a man feared by all throughout the world. He was the only shinobi with a 'Flee on sight' recommendation on his bingo book profile in every village that was considered hostile to Konoha." Added Jiraya.

"If any of those villages had learned about you being his son, regardless of the means we would have taken to protect you, they would have sent countless assassination missions to take you out before you could even say your first word. That is also the reason why we couldn't let Jiraya, your father's sensei, take you with him as everyone would have been able to understand the link between you and your father." Said Sarutobi.

"This is how much your father and his legacy were feared, the price of his glory." Finished Jiraya.

"Are you going to be okay Naruto-kun ?" Asked a worried Sarutobi, "We could always postpone the mission or assign it to someone else..."

Naruto took a deep breath before he spoke.

"I'm not fine right now Jiji, but I want to be. I want to be someone my father would be proud of when we finally meet again. He put his trust in me and he gave me what most consider a curse, but to me Natsuki is not, she is a blessing." He said those words with determination.

Natsuki who was listening to the whole thing had tears in her eyes, how she wished she could be out of the seal at this moment and take her mate in her arms,

"**I love you so much Naruto-kun, I know we ended up together through odd events but I'm glad we did. Before I was sealed in you, I never experienced those emotions."**

"**It was only thanks to the seal your father created, that through our link I learned the feelings of Love and Compassion."**

"**I know that you will find a way for us to be together in the real world one day and I can't wait for that day to come."**

Naruto heard Natsuki through their link and it only fueled his desire to become a better man.

"I understand the Price of Glory Hokage-sama, Jiraya-sensei, it took from me my family and my childhood. I will not let it take away my future !" Said Naruto with conviction in his voice as he bowed to the two men before him and left the office to prepare himself for his next mission.

The two veteran shinobi were so stunned by the wisdom displayed by the young chunin that they didn't even register that it was the first, and most likely the only time he would address them with a respectful honorific. It took them a moment before they could move from their spot.

"He will go far sensei, further than any of us and probably even further than his father." Said Jiraya with pride.

"I'm sure he will Jiraya, all we can do now is to look after him and help him achieve his dreams. I'm counting on you Jiraya, don't let anything happen to him, he may not be ready right now but he is the future of Konoha and most likely the future to change this terrible world too." Replied an equally proud Sarutobi.

"I will sensei, and don't worry I will also bring Tsunade back." Announced Jiraya as he also left the office.

Sarutobi's eyes suddenly widened, he forgot to tell them about the new bingo book and Naruto's heritage.

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha Main Gate – 2 hours later<strong>

As he made his way to the gate Naruto could not help himself, as he took a long look at the Hokage Mountain. The fourth face carved in it now held a whole new signification to him. He hold his fist in its direction, silently taking an oath.

"_I'll make you proud Dad, I'll become a man you will be proud to call your son when the time for us to meet again comes."_

"_**I'm sure he's already proud of you Naru-kun, watching over you from the afterlife."**_ Added Natsuki.

He then arrived at the gate where Jiraya was already waiting for him and they immediately left.

* * *

><p><strong>Small village – 4 hours later<strong>

As Jiraya went in an "information gathering" mission, Naruto was left alone in a room they booked in a hotel to pass the night.

He was about to go to sleep when someone knocked at the door. This made him frown, the pervert had a spare set of keys and no one should have been up to date with their mission. He used chakra to strengthened his vocal cords and talked in a more masculine voice.

"Yes, what is it?" He asked first.

"Room service, I have a message for a man called Jiraya, can you open the door ?" Replied an unknown voice.

Naruto understood the situation immediately, they had made sure to use fake names for their check in, he was proud about the name they came up with, he went with _Uke Emo_ while Jiraya went with _Orochi Pedo_. The names made the receptionist frown at them, not that they cared.

The man behind the door was obviously up to no good and Naruto understood he had to get the hell out of there.

"I think you have the wrong room sir." He said then made his way to the window of his room.

He was about to escape when the door violently opened, revealing two men dressed in strange black robes with red clouds on them. One of them looked like an overgrown Sasuke while the other looked like he was constipated or something with the look he had on his blue face.

"Naruto-kun, I need you to come with us." Said the Sasuke look alike.

"You have the wrong person my name is Uke Emo, though with how you just called me you may be a friend of my roommate who goes by the name Orochi Pedo." Replied a grinning blond.

That was enough of a taunt to make the raven haired stranger develop a twitch in his left eyebrow.

"You have become quite famous Naruto-kun, we came for you before you can get stronger or someone else tries to take you out for your bounty." Said the same man while his partner was still laughing at Naruto's earlier reply.

"What bounty ? What are you talking about ?" Asked a genuinely surprised Naruto.

"Looks like you don't know that Iwa offers 30,000,000 ryo for you, dead or alive." Finally said the second man.

Naruto's eyes widened at the news, he was a marked man. People actually wanted him dead outside of the village, not even knowing about his father yet. He would have to think about it later, for now he knew none of his more powerful techniques were useful in a confined place like this hotel room and those two clowns seem to have some skill too.

He then remembered a new jutsu he developed just after the exams, thinking about an opponent who gave him troubles during the preliminary fights.

"_**Futon : Shishi Kokuou no Nakigoe !"**_ He thought in his mind before taking a deep breath and charging chakra into his lungs.

As he expelled the mass of air and chakra from his lungs, he directed the blast in the direction of his two opponents who did not imagine that he could perform jutsu with no hand signs or calling them out loud.

Naruto managed to perform an attack that reproduced what the Oto shinobi Dosu had done to him, using air vibrations to attack his internal hearing system. The two mysterious men in front of him were obviously not expecting that kind of attack and did not protect their ears before it was already too late.

The wind attack broke their balance for a short time, allowing Naruto to run past them in the corridor to try to run away until he could get his hands on the damn pervert. Naruto had to smile at the success of his new jutsu, no matter how experienced a shinobi may be, there was no way to train or subconsciously protect one's internal hearing organs.

Unfortunately, he only made it halfway to reach the end of the corridor when the two men got out of the room. He understood that experienced shinobi could still recover quicker than others from that kind of attack.

He cursed that he didn't have the time to perfect the jutsu, he imagined that at full power he could eventually permanently destroy an opponent's internal hearing organs with his jutsu using the right chakra output.

"Well I'll admit that you're stronger than what your file says about you Naruto-kun." Said the first man before adding.

"Kisame, take him out we can't have someone of his level running freely."

The larger man turned to Naruto and began to charge at the young blond with his large sword.

Before he could reach Naruto,who had left his weapons and gears inside the room, a man-sized frog appeared before Naruto and shielded him from the sword slash.

Naruto turned his head and was relieved to finally see his sensei. Jiraya had an unconscious woman on his shoulder and seemed a little embarrassed. After putting her down against the wall, he addressed the two mysterious men.

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, how pleasant meeting you there." He said.

"Jiraya of the Sennin, supposed to be as strong as he is a pervert." One of them replied.

"Ero-sennin ! How did they immediately find your weak point ?" asked Naruto.

A still embarrassed Jiraya scolded Naruto for the nickname but then turned immediately serious after that, took a fighting stance and called his technique.

" **Kuchiyose - Gamaguchi Shibari !"** Called the hermit as the walls of the corridor turned into a strange organic substance.

"Kisame, we're leaving." Calmly said Itachi as they started to run to the other side of the corridor.

As they were about to get trapped by Jiraya's jutsu, Itachi used a strange black fire jutsu to dig his way out. Jiraya sealed a portion of the strange black fire into a scroll to study it later then returned to his student.

As he dispelled his jutsu, Jiraya was suddenly attacked by a green blur. Naruto recognized the man as being Lee's sensei and asked what he was doing there.

"I'm so sorry Jiraya-sama, I came here on a mission from Hokage-sama to warn you that young Naruto here may have new enemies after him ...". Said Gai as he explained the new bingo book update to them.

"Okay Gai your mission is done, you can return to Konoha." Said Jiraya dismissing him.

"Hai jiraya-sama, I heard about your mission, please bring her back to heal my student too I beg of you." Said Gai as he bowed then left.

Jiraya and Naruto then returned to their room.

"Okay Naruto, I've got Tsunade's last known position. It's a town not far from here called Tanzaku Gai. It will take us two days to get there. I'm sorry I wasn't there immediately for you today but you did good against them alone." Said Jiraya.

"Thanks Ero-sennin !" Replied the blond.

"Time to up your training, while we travel we will work on improving your **Rasengan**." Said Jiraya as they called it a night.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

I wasn't sure if 'The price of Glory' had any meaning so tell me if it doesn't please.

What do you think about the revelation of Naruto's father and the way he handled it ? I would not have my Naruto go emo about it when he did take it like a man in canon.

Some minor fluff for the main pairing and some master-disciple bonding time for Naruto and Jiraya.

First Akatsuki meeting too, next time we finally meet the slug princess ;)

* * *

><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

**Futon : Shishi Kokuou no Nakigoe** , Lion King's Roar, Naruto's version of Dosu's jutsu. Creates a blast of wind to target his opponent's hearing system to disrupt his balance.


	16. Princess Hunt

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>To answer a review that asked if Itachi and Kisame were in Konoha before attacking Naruto last chapter, the answer is no. I find it highly unlikely that two S-rank missing shinobi would openly walk into a major shinobi village like that, no plan, no henge, in broad daylight in order to get Naruto. Even the "artist" combo Sasori and Deidara had a plan. Therefore Sasuke did not interfere in my version.<p>

Now onto another good question, someone asked if Naruto frees Natsuki he will lose a huge part of his powers. The answer is also no, since except in his second battle with Gaara I voluntarily never made him use youki. He doesn't depend really on it so he won't miss it, and that's assuming that the "unsealing" happens that way.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16: Princess Hunt<strong>

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><p><strong>Tanzaku Gai<strong>

Naruto and Jiraya arrived in Tanzaku Gai at noon, it was a pretty huge town and since the last accident Jiraya decided it would be a better idea to stay close to his disciple at all time. That also meant that the old hermit could not go on his solo "information gathering" missions anymore.

They decided to start looking for Tsunade in the more touristic part of the town, known for its cultural monuments and mostly in this case for its gambling houses. According to Jiraya, Tsunade was supposedly a big time addict on gambling games. This made Naruto wonder if this was really the right person to succeed his Jiji in becoming the next Hokage.

When they arrived in the touristic area, they came across the ruins of what was supposed to be a huge historical castle from before the shinobi era. This surprised Jiraya since it was still here the last time he went here.

They spent the whole afternoon looking for Tsunade in the several gambling houses in the area but did not find her. It was starting to get dark outside and Jiraya decided to stop looking for the day. They made their way to a local inn to eat dinner.

* * *

><p><strong>Inside the Inn<strong>

As they went inside the inn, Jiraya suddenly stopped in his track and stared at the back of the room, his eyes widened at the sight of the person they had been looking for all day.

"Tsunade !" Said Jiraya with a loud voice.

"Jiraya ! What are you doing here ?" Replied a young woman who stood up from her table in the back of the room.

Naruto was stunned, this woman was their target, the last person on Ero-sennin's team with the traitorous snake. She did not look to be in her fifties at all, Naruto could honestly admit that she was extremely beautiful and that she could give Natsuki a run for her money. There was another woman sitting next to her, she appeared to be younger, most likely her assistant.

"**Please … if she's really the pervert teammate then she's probably using a henge to hide her true appearance."** Said Natsuki.

Naruto followed Jiraya and they all sat at the same table. After ordering some food, Jiraya started to engage the conversation with his old teammate.

"It's been a long time Tsunade, Shizune." Started Jiraya.

"Indeed it has, nevertheless I can't help but feel a little nostalgic, you are the second ghost of the past I've met today." Replied Tsunade.

"Orochimaru huh, what did he want ?" Asked Jiraya.

"Nothing much, it was just a greeting. What do you want with me though ?" Said Tsunade as she exchanged a look with her disciple Shizune, telling her to keep quiet for now.

"Sensei has issued an order for you to come back to Konoha, you are to become his successor as the Godaime Hokage." Replied Jiraya bluntly.

Tsunade's eyes widened for a second before she closed them and took a deep breath.

"I refuse, I'm not going back to that place. Besides Hokage is a shitty job, only a fool would want to become one." Said Tsunade with a mocking tone.

Naruto suddenly snapped, he jumped from his seat on the table and tried to punch Tsunade. Jiraya stopped him in time.

"Why did you stop me ? I won't let anyone badmouth Jiji or any other Hokage in front of me, even if she is your ex teammate !" Said Naruto with rage.

"Calm down Naruto, she is the best person to succeed the old man, she's the granddaughter of the first Hokage and the best medic ninja in the whole world. Don't you remember there are still lots of injured people back in the Leaf that need her help, including that mini Gai clone." Said Jiraya.

"Who is this boy Jiraya ?" Asked an irritated Tsunade.

"That's Uzumaki Naruto, newly promoted chunin and my part time apprentice." Replied the toad sage.

Tsunade was surprised to meet the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, son of the last Hokage and her distant relative Uzumaki Kushina from her grandmother's side Uzumaki Mito.

"I don't know about her medical skills but we could probably find much better than her to be Hokage. Look at her seriously, a 50 year old drunk who uses a henge to look young and spends most of her time gambling." Said Naruto.

"You've got some guts Gaki, want to take this outside ?" Replied Tsunade.

"Fine by me !" Said Naruto as they all left the inn.

* * *

><p><strong>Outside the Inn<strong>

Tsunade and Naruto faced each other on a deserted street outside the inn, Jiraya and Shizune were on the side of the road.

"I only need one hand to beat you, chunin." Said Tsunade.

Naruto ignored the jab and charged at her, unfortunately for him she proved that she was indeed one of the Legendary Three. Her taijutsu skill was a lot better than his own, she managed to evade all his hits. She immediately took advantage of a moment of hesitation from him to send a devastating punch to his ribs. He flew fifty meters backwards and could feel that she most likely broke some of his ribs.

"Before I send you to the afterlife, tell me why do you care so much about the Hokage?" Said the medic as she made her way towards him.

"You wouldn't understand, because unlike you, to become Hokage is my dream !" he replied with conviction as she stopped for a second, seemingly lost in her thoughts.

Seeing an opening and despite the pain he felt in his chest due to some broken bones, Naruto managed to stand up and charge at her.

"_It's still in the development phase but I have to pull it off, she will see through everything else I may launch at her." _Thought Naruto as he charged a **Rasengan **in his hand then started to channel wind chakra in it.

Tsunade was pulled out of her musing when she saw the approaching orb. Thinking fast she decided to punch the ground in front of her using a special taijutsu move, **"Okasho **!**"** she said, the hit pulled large rocks out of the ground, blocking Naruto's path.

Naruto managed to pull through the first rock but was stopped by the second one. His technique lost stability then dispelled, leaving him unprotected as an avalanche of rocks buried him.

Shizune quickly pulled him out and started to heal his body as Jiraya made his way to Tsunade.

"That was overkill Tsunade …, you didn't need to go all out against a chunin." Said Jiraya.

"It's your own damn fault Jiraya, why did you teach him the **Rasengan**, a move he obviously can't master at his age. That's why he sprouts shit about the being Hokage !" Replied Tsunade.

Naruto who had been healed by Shizune joined them at that moment, "That wasn't **Rasengan** you old woman, that was my elemental version of it. I just mastered the **Rasengan** last month, I only started training to add elemental chakra to it since yesterday. Just give me three days and I'll master the new one !"

Tsunade was so stunned by the fact that Naruto already mastered the **Rasengan** and that he was trying to add elemental chakra to it, a feat that even its creator the Yondaime could not achieve, that she completely forgot he just called her an old woman.

"A man doesn't go back on his words Gaki." She said with a smirk before adding "Want to make a bet ?".

"What kind of bet ?" He asked.

"If you manage to complete that jutsu of yours you win, I'll even let you five days to do it. If you can't complete it after that time then you will admit that the position of Hokage is shit and then you with Jiraya will leave me alone." She said.

"What if I win ?" He replied.

"Then I'll come with you, I will even give you this." She said as she showed him her necklace, making Jiraya and Shizune gasp.

After Jiraya explained to him where the necklace came from, Naruto accepted the bet and they all left the street to retire for the night.

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><p><strong>Timeskip – 4 days later<strong>

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><p>Naruto was training just outside the town, several holes in the trees, ground and surrounding rocks could be seen. Shizune had chosen to stay with him, to help him if he injured himself during his training. Jiraya and Tsunade were in town, most likely drinking in some bar at the moment.<p>

Shizune had a kind and caring attitude, she was a great medic like her mentor. Naruto enjoyed spending time with her, it felt like he was with the sister he never had.

He sighed as he just failed again another attempt to mix wind chakra to his **Rasengan**.

"Can I help you in anything Naruto-kun ?" asked the brunette.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I can make a perfect **Rasengan** and my control over wind chakra is top notch." Replied a dejected Naruto.

"I see what you mean, it's like you're trying to look left and right at the same time, maybe your brain is just no supposed to work that way." She replied trying to give him a medical or scientific point of view on his problem.

Naruto's eyes widened at her remark, the solution was so simple he didn't even consider it.

"You rock Nee-chan ! How could I not think about it, thank you so much !" He said then made a swarm of **Kage Bunshins** and started to train again.

Not understanding what she did for him but seeing that he cheered up, Shizune smiled and continued to watch over him.

* * *

><p><strong>Hotel room – That night<strong>

Shizune made it back after she just healed Naruto. He trained until he had chakra burns on his hand and lost consciousness after using too much chakra. She thought that he would be out for two days at least, a little sad that he would lose the bet.

As she was about to go take a shower, Tsunade came back. She asked her master if she planned to accept the mysterious deal Orochimaru proposed. Seeing Tsunade hesitate, she tried to threaten her against betraying the Leaf. It only serve to anger the blond medic as she sent a powerful punch into her apprentice stomach, effectively knocking her out.

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><p><strong>The next morning<strong>

As Naruto woke up, he saw that he was back in the hotel. He immediately jumped out of the bed when he saw an unconscious Shizune lying on the floor. He managed to wake her up but she panicked, thinking that it was already too late to stop her master from going to Orochimaru. She was relieved when Naruto told her that only a few hours passed since she brought him back to the hotel.

She was about to run out of the room by the window when Jiraya stopped her. He had been drugged by Tsunade, most likely to prevent him from following her to Orochimaru. Shizune told them everything, Orochimaru needed Tsunade to heal someone for him and he offered in exchange to bring back to life the two people Tsunade lost in the previous war.

They decided to head out to the place where Tsunade was supposed to meet Orochimaru.

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><p><strong>With Tsunade<strong>

Tsunade made it to the place where she met Orochimaru and his henchman the last time, the snake was already there waiting for her.

"Have you come to accept my offer Tsunade?" Asked Orochimaru.

Tsunade closed her eyes, the faces of her little brother and her fiance flashed through her mind. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes and then replied "No I refuse, I may not have always hold Konoha in high esteem but I will never betray what my brother and my fiance died for. Now I will kill you for even trying to make that deal with me.". As she finished she threw a punch to a wall behind her, shattering it into dust as if it was made of glass.

"Come to think of it we never seriously fought against each other in the past." Said Orochimaru.

As he was about to charge, Orochimaru was interrupted by his subordinate Kabuto. He was following Shizune and discovered that she was on her way, but what worried him was the people who were coming with her. He told his master of the incoming interruption and they tried to flee, only to be pursued by an angered Tsunade.

Naruto and the others arrived a few minutes later only to see the damage caused by Tsunade and deducted that she refused the deal and Orochimaru did not take her answer well. They then followed her trail.

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><p><strong>Tanzaku Gai Outskirts<strong>

Tsunade was getting tired, fighting a fellow sannin and his assistant at the same time proved to be a lot more complicated that she thought. Orochimaru found that they lost too much time so he used a weakness of Tsunade to incapacitate her, her fear of blood. She was instantly paralyzed at the sight of blood, and rapidly took several hits.

As they were about to take her out, a smoke bomb was thrown between them. When the smoke cleared out, Naruto and his group were all around Tsunade.

Orochimaru gritted his teeth at the sight of the two men who prevented his invasion plan from working. His old teammate the toad sage and the fox brat.

Shizune started to heal her master immediately, Tsunade was still in shock due to her phobia of blood. Jiraya was not ready to fight either, the effect of the drug Tsunade gave him still hindering his movements. Naruto knew he was the only one at one hundred percent on his side.

"Kukuku, nice seeing you again so soon Jiraya and you must be the Kyuubi brat, Uzumaki Naruto it is really nice to finally meet you." Started Orochimaru.

"Naruto you take the assistant, I'll handle Orochimaru." Said Jiraya as he saw Shizune still healing her master. "Shizune cover us as soon as your master is better."

Orochimaru immediately summoned two giant snakes, he jumped on top of the first one while Kabuto took command of the second one.

Seeing this Jiraya tried to summon his battle frog too but failed miserably, not being able to use his chakra correctly.

"You are still an idiot Jiraya, well I guess this is Tsunade's work since even you wouldn't mess up that kind of jutsu." Taunted Orochimaru.

Seeing his master being insulted, Naruto decided to participate in the battle as well and went through hand signs, **"Ninpo : Kuchiyose no jutsu !"** he chanted as he slammed his hands on the ground, then two giant dragons appeared.

The first one was the fire dragon Hiryu that he already summoned during the chunin exams. He didn't knew the second one. It had a very long green serpentine body with short limbs and large claws, it had two long horns on top of its head and red piercing eyes.

"**It is an honor to be summoned again Naruto-sama."** Said Hiryu.

"**Greetings Naruto-sama, I am Sheron a venom dragon. How may we serve you ?"** Said the second summon.

"I need you to assist me and my master in defeating our enemies on top of those two snakes right there." Replied Naruto showing Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Naruto jumped behind Hiryu while Jiraya went with Sheron.

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><p><strong>AN: ** Preparation chapter for the big fight next time.

As usual Read and Review please.


	17. Will of Fire

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Some readers were disappointed that I stopped the last chapter just before the fight, well you know you never have to wait that long with my chapter release rate, plus I wanted the fight to have its own chapter since it's pretty long.<p>

Someone asked which version of the Rasengan Naruto was learning, it is the basic wind one. The shuriken one is for much later, requires a more specialized training and a bit more than five days of preparations.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 17: The Will of Fire<strong>

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><p><strong>Outskirts of Tanzaku Gai<strong>

As the smoke resulting from Naruto's summoning technique cleared out, Orochimaru cursed as he remembered that the blond could also summon. Tsunade and Shizune were stunned to see Naruto bring out not one but two large dragons, mythical creatures that were thought to be long gone.

Naruto was riding on top of Hiryu, a flying fire dragon. They were high in the sky above the position of Tsunade and Shizune. Jiraya was standing on the ground in front of Tsunade and her apprentice, he was surrounded by the long body of Naruto's second summon, Sheron the crawling venom dragon.

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto used his chakra storage seal immediately since summoning two huge dragons did take a lot out of him. As he felt his reserves go up again he then addressed his dragon.<p>

"Okay, looks like Ero-sennin is in position as well. Hiryu let's try some fireball against them first, we'll try to separate them and then engage the silver haired one." Said Naruto to his dragon.

"**Very well Naruto-sama, hang on tight please we're going down."** Replied the fire dragon as he started to dive in the direction of Orochimaru and Kabuto on the ground.

As they reached his firing range, Hiryu slowed down their speed and then gathered some air into his lungs to prepare for his assault. The fire dragon launched a huge fireball, targeting the space between Orochimaru and Kabuto.

As the fireball impacted the ground, Orochimaru and Kabuto quickly moved away from it in two different directions. Naruto could analyze that those snakes summons were pretty fast in their evasion movements, making it hard to hit them with Hiryu's fireballs.

"Cover me Kabuto, I'll go finish Jiraya and Tsunade while they're still not at one hundred percent." Said Orochimaru.

"Hai Orochimaru-sama." Replied Kabuto as he positioned himself and his snake mount between his master and the approaching form of Naruto on his dragon.

Naruto saw Orochimaru and his snake's retreating forms and smiled as the first part of his plan was done. He could now focus all his attention to Kabuto as he commanded Hiryu to continue bombarding their target from the sky.

Kabuto cursed at the blond, even if he was following the orders of his master he was pulled further and further away from the side of Orochimaru. His original plan was just to temporary distract Naruto while allowing his master to finish the other group but always with the possibility to assist him in the event that fighting two fellow sannin members proved to be too hard. Now he was dragged too far from Orochimaru to possibly help him.

* * *

><p><strong>With Jiraya<strong>

* * *

><p>"Naruto did his job, Orochimaru is coming alone this way. Prepare yourself Sheron I'm counting on you, I still can't mold my chakra properly thanks to Tsunade's drug in my system." Said Jiraya to the dragon Naruto summoned to assist him.<p>

"**Very well Jiraya-dono, I shall assist you in fighting off enemies of Naruto-sama. My abilities allow me to throw acid or poison blasts, my claws are coated with a very strong neurotoxic agent that can kill an average human in seconds and my scales are pretty resilient to any elemental or physical attacks."** Replied Sheron.

Jiraya, Tsunade and Shizune were all impressed at the dragon's ability. However, before they could discuss further about the dragon's powers, Orochimaru arrived on top of his giant snake summon.

"Still trying to play the hero a and protect Tsunade, huh Jiraya. You are both so pathetic, it disgusts me that people would put us three on the same level. No matter, after today I will be the only one of us to stay alive." Said Orochimaru.

Jiraya exchanged a nod with Shizune and she suddenly took her master and fled the area, leaving Orochimaru and Jiraya alone.

Seeing this Orochimaru tried to cut their retreat but had to stop to avoid an incoming blast of acid launched by Sheron. The attack missed but everyone could see when it fell to the ground the damage it did, melting concrete rock like it was nothing.

Sheron charged air in his lungs to prepare for another blast of acid aiming at Orochimaru, seeing this Jiraya tried to help with his currently limited powers. As the spray of acid left the dragon's mouth, Jiraya went through hand signs and called his jutsu, **"Doton : Yomi no Yuma !"**.

Orochimaru was ready to evade another blast of acid when he suddenly felt the ground shake, looking down he saw the ground had transformed into a swamp. Seeing his summon trapped and the incoming spray of acid upon them, Orochimaru cursed and abandoned his snake. The creature was hit this time, the acid spread all over its body killing it instantly.

As he landed Orochimaru went through hand signs and then took a crouching position, **"Mandara no Jin !"** he called his jutsu. From his mouth thousands of snakes came out, slithering as they made their way towards Jiraya.

The swarm of snakes took the form of a giant living wave as they approached Jiraya's position. When they were close enough, each of them opened its mouth and the tip of a sword could be seen in each of their mouth.

Jiraya was aware that if he tried to evade the attack, it would continue its path and reach Tsunade and Shizune. As he was trying to come up with a jutsu to stop the incoming attack, Sheron suddenly took position around him, shielding the toad sage with his own body.

The attack hit them hard, Jiraya could feel the ground shaking all around him. When the ground stopped shaking, Sheron moved his body so Jiraya could get out. What Jiraya saw made him widen his eyes, the snakes dispelled but not without leaving a present. Sheron's body was covered by stab wounds by the swords they had, he was bleeding profusely.

"**I'm glad you're alright Jiraya-dono, I'm sorry I cannot help you further though."** Said the dragon as he was about to dispel himself.

"That's quite alright Sheron, you did more than enough. It seems Tsunade's drug effects on my body finally wore off, I have full control again on my chakra. Thanks a lot for your assistance, I will tell my student that you fought admirably, you can go back now." Replied Jiraya as Sheron dispelled himself after bowing his head.

Jiraya now faced Orochimaru, both of them lost their summon protection and were ready for the second round while Tsunade was still recovering from her previous fight.

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>Naruto and Kabuto were currently in a stalemate, Naruto could not hit Kabuto and his snake because they were faster and Kabuto could not reach Naruto and his dragon since they could fly.<p>

They could hear the sounds of the battle between Jiraya and Orochimaru still going on, Kabuto was even worried for his master when they saw the snake summon die after being hit by the other dragon. He decided to try to change tactics to catch the inexperienced chunin off guard.

Kabuto waited for Naruto to get close again before he went through hand signs, **"Katon : Kasumi Enbu no jutsu !"** he said as he expelled a huge cloud of burning ashes all around them.

Hiryu was fine inside the opponent's jutsu but Naruto wasn't, he had to lower his guard to protect his air ways and gave Kabuto the opening he needed.

Kabuto launched another jutsu on the blond, **"Sen'ei Jashu !"** he called as he launched snakes at Naruto that managed to catch him and throw him off his dragon.

Naruto landed hard on the ground, and still found it hard to breath due to the ashes in the air.

Kabuto was about to charge at Naruto to finish him when he heard someone launch a jutsu at them, **"Doku Giri !"** as dark cloud of smoke appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him.

He was fast enough to jump out of the cloud but the snake couldn't. Kabuto turned his head in the direction of the voice who called the technique and he saw that it was Tsunade's assistant. They had unknowingly reach Tsunade and her apprentice during their fight. His snake suddenly vomit blood and fell to the ground dead. He knew that her previous attack must have been based on poison being a medic himself.

Seeing Naruto still down, Shizune prepared herself for another attack and launched a second **Doku Giri** in Kabuto's direction. When the smoke cleared out Kabuto was nowhere to be found, Shizune's eyes widened as she realized too late where he was.

Kabuto jumped out of the ground and used his chakra scalpel to sever the nerves in Shizune's legs, effectively preventing her from moving away as he went to kick her to the side.

Seeing an unprotected Tsunade not far from him, he decided to go finish her off before she had the chance to regain her strength and composure. As he was about to land a hit on the still unmoving Tsunade, he was kicked out of the way by Naruto.

"Are you alright Tsunade-bachan ?" Asked a still panting Naruto.

"Naruto … what are you doing ? He is too strong for you, and you have barely any chakra left. You must flee, leave me alone here and save yourself !" Replied an emotional Tsunade as flashes of her younger brother and fiance dying went through her mind.

"Don't worry, none of you will leave this place alive." Said Kabuto as he stood up and charged in their direction but had to fall back after Hiryu landed in front of him, preventing him from going further in that direction.

"Hiryu, can you stall him for a bit, I need some time to prepare my next move." Said Naruto to his dragon.

The dragon nodded and started throwing fireballs at Kabuto while staying on the ground to cover his master and Tsunade, spreading his large wings to prevent Kabuto from seeing Naruto prepare his attack.

Naruto ignored Tsunade's pleas for him to leave her and save himself and made a single hand sign, **"Kage Bunshin !"** he said as a his clone appeared. He then turned his head in Tsunade's direction and gave her a smile.

"Don't worry Ba-chan, until I become Hokage I will never die !" He said with conviction as he charged a perfect **Rasengan** while his clone channeled wind chakra in the chakra orb. As he arrived running behind Hiryu who was still blocking Kabuto, he ordered his dragon to fall back.

"Now Hiryu !" He yelled as the dragon suddenly jumped in the air then dispelled himself since he used most of his chakra to fire continuously at Kabuto.

Kabuto saw that it was too late to fall back and decided to take on the attack head on, he went through hand signs and call a jutsu, **"Kuchiyose : Rashomon !"** he called as he placed his hands to the ground. A huge structure rose from the ground in the shape of an enormous door with demonic markings all over it, while Kabuto was in a crouching position behind it.

Naruto also decided to go through with his new technique and launched it against the strange structure in front of him, **"Futon : Rasengan !"** he called as he slammed his jutsu against the door.

As Naruto's jutsu touched the **Rashomon**, a huge flash blinded everyone, then the sound of an explosion could be heard. Naruto's **Rasengan** expanded upon impact and completely vaporized the defensive structure, it then continued on its original path behind it, catching Kabuto off guard and dragging him along. It finally stopped fifty meters later against a huge rock.

As the jutsu finally dispelled, Kabuto appeared crushed against the rock that stopped it. He was cut in several places, he was heavily bleeding as he laid there unconscious on the ground.

Tsunade was stunned, Naruto did complete his jutsu in only five days. The results were astonishing, this **Rasengan** had to be ten times more powerful than the original one, judging by the look of what it did to the **Rashomon**.

Naruto took a peak at the results of his first successful attempt to make the wind version of the **Rasengan**, then looked back at Tsunade with a grin, "I win the bet Ba-chan." he said before falling to the ground unconscious due to chakra exhaustion.

Tsunade rushed to him and saw that he was fine, she smiled, took off her pendant and attached it around Naruto's neck. She saw that she also finally stopped shaking due to her crisis earlier after seeing blood.

"Yes you win Naruto, it seems I'm finally free of my past and from my old demons too." Said Tsunade as she took the unconscious body of Naruto in her arms and hugged it with tears in her eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>With Jiraya<strong>

* * *

><p>Both sannin were in a high taijutsu battle when they saw the flash of Naruto's jutsu. Their eyes widened at the sight of the damage done by that jutsu.<p>

"_Looks like Naruto finally did it, I knew he would."_ Thought Jiraya.

"_To think that he could go through the Rashomon, even if it was a low version of the true Rashomon. Jiraya has recovered from whatever Tsunade did to him and Tsunade herself looks like she's back in business as well. It's a shame I couldn't get her to heal Kimimaro-kun for me, I will have to go with the original plan and get Sasuke-kun after all."_ Analyzed Orochimaru.

"_I can't let that one get stronger either, he is already close to Kabuto's level. He could prove to be troublesome later if I let him grow further."_ As Orochimaru finished his thinking, he managed to catch a still unfocused Jiraya off guard and temporary paralyzed him. He then charged in Naruto and Tsunade's direction with his sword drawn.

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><p><strong>With Tsunade<strong>

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><p>Tsunade was healing the minor cuts Naruto had all over his body when she fell the killing intent of Orochimaru behind her. She turned in time to launch herself between the snake and Naruto, taking the hit instead of the young blond.<p>

"I didn't target you, why do you put your life on the line for him Tsunade?" asked Orochimaru.

"Because he is the future of Konoha. He is a bearer of the Will of Fire and I will save him even at the cost of my life because from now on I am the Godaime Hokage of Konoha !" Roared Tsunade as she stood up and used her technique.

"**Infuin Kai, Sozo Saisei !"** Said Tsunade as she glowed, her chakra healing every injury she had.

Orochimaru was at a disadvantage now, he had already used a lot of chakra against Jiraya and the other dragon summon, so he took several hard hits from Tsunade who had had the time to recover.

Seeing that drawing the fight further was pointless, first Tsunade would never help him now and second he couldn't match the firepower of two sannin at the moment with Kabuto down, he decided to pull back. He jumped back towards the down form of Kabuto and then fled the area.

After some time Jiraya and Shizune finally managed to get back to Naruto and Tsunade.

"Are you alright ?" Asked Jiraya to Tsunade.

"I'm fine, I will recover after a good rest." Replied Tsunade before adding "He did it Jiraya, he really finished what Minato started all those years ago."

"Yes I saw the result of the jutsu, his parents would be proud of him. He has the will to never give up, he is a true shinobi of Konoha, a bearer of the Will of Fire." Said Jiraya looking down at his disciple with pride.

"Let's go home ..." She finally said.

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><p><strong>AN: **As promised the battle between Naruto & Co against Orochimaru. Don't be mad that Naruto didn't get to kick their asses since he's pretty much still jonin level at most while Kabuto is at elite jonin and Orochimaru is a sennin.

Naruto still got plenty of time to develop and the story is only barely midway from where I intend to end it.

As usual please Read and Review.


	18. Leaving the Leaf

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I am glad most of you enjoyed the way the fight went last chapter, I was afraid that people would be disappointed that Naruto didn't walk all over Kabuto and Orochimaru. For those who were, I'll say it again, Naruto is still a chunin with almost no real life experience. He is no God yet, this is the journey that turns him into one that is interesting.<p>

Now on the same matter, I will just reveal that he still has a lot more to work on :)

Therefore the 3 years skip that leads to Shippuuden will happen. It may not be 100% training like in canon and I may or may not fully detail it, so you will just have to continue reading to know.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 18: Leaving the Leaf<strong>

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><p>Naruto and his group decided to take the long route to go back to Konoha. As none of them had really recovered from their battle with the traitorous snake, they decided to take it easy until they reach Konoha.<p>

Consequently, they stopped at every hotsprings, taverns and gambling houses on their way back to the Leaf. Jiraya usually disappeared as soon as they arrived in a new town, supposedly going to scout the area for any potential danger but you could almost always find him near the hotsprings. Tsunade just went for the taverns to order their most expensive sake or just spent her time losing money at the local gambling houses. That only left Naruto and Shizune trying to prevent their master from doing those stupid things.

As they finally made it back after two long weeks in front of the main gates of Konoha, everyone had different reactions at the sight of the giant doors.

Jiraya had a lecherous smirk on his face, most likely ready to go explore the less recommended area of the village. Naruto was relieved to have finally come home after successfully completing his first A-rank mission as a chunin. For Tsunade and Shizune however, it was the first time in more than a decade that they set foot in the village. Shizune tried to comfort her master as memories of the past and her losses came back rushing at her.

The chunin guarding the gates were surprised at the sudden appearance of not one but two of the legendary sannin, they informed the group that Sarutobi had been expecting them for quite some time now and ordered for them to immediately report to the Hokage tower as soon as they arrived.

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><p><strong>Hokage office<strong>

* * *

><p>They all arrived in front of the office of the Hokage using <strong>Shunshin<strong>, and before Shizune could require a meeting with the Sandaime with his secretary, Naruto just kicked the door open as usual before going inside. Jiraya just followed his disciple with a smirk while Tsunade and Shizune were stunned at the blatant disrespect towards the Shinobi no Kami.

"Hello Jiji, I'm back from my mission !" Yelled Naruto as he stepped inside the office.

"Nice to see you back my boy, I assume the mission was a success seeing the guests you have with you." Replied the old man.

"It has been a long time sensei." Said Tsunade as she saw her old teacher.

"It's good to be back Hokage-sama." Added Shizune.

"Very well, I welcome you all back. Now Naruto I know you weren't the highest ranking shinobi on this mission but I'd like to hear your report anyway, consider it a training as your new duties as a chunin will have you lead your own teams in the future, you will also have to do this at some point." Announced Sarutobi.

Naruto was not used to receive all the attention like this, from a room full of people of Kage level no less. He was red with embarrassment while the others were looking at him with smirks on their face, realizing that there was indeed something that could effectively shut the young exuberant blond up.

Naruto finally managed to regain his composure, took a deep breath, then started to report on what had happened on his mission. The meeting with Itachi and Kisame, then the tracking of Tsunade that led them to Tanzagu Gai to finally finish with the battle against Orochimaru and Kabuto.

As Naruto finished his report, Sarutobi had to frown again at the interference of Orochimaru. He was already aware of Naruto meeting Itachi and his associate when Gai came back. He took a moment to gather his thoughts then addressed the people in front of him again.

"You did good Naruto-kun, I'm very proud of you and the mission will go on your record not as an A-rank but as a S-rank one due to the interference of two S-class missing shinobi of our village."

"Tsunade, as you already know, I am stepping down. You will be the next Hokage after me and the official coronation ceremony will take place next week, we need time to get the officials to arrive in Konoha to announce it. I have a few things for you to do in the meantime, we will discuss about them in a moment."

"Jiraya, I want you to investigate the group that Itachi belongs to, their goals are obviously linked to Naruto so I want to know more about them. You are to leave as soon as possible but we need a report at least in a month."

"Tsunade and Shizune, you will both head to the hospital as soon as possible. There are still lots of injured people there waiting for treatment, and especially a group of genin and chunin who just came back yesterday after some disturbing events I will reveal to you now."

After this Sarutobi motioned for everyone to get comfortable, then started to report the event that went on during the week that led to the situation they were in right now.

Apparently in the same time Orochimaru tried to get Tsunade to join him and heal whoever he wanted her to heal, he also sent a group of shinobi called the 'Sound Four' here in Konoha in order to convince Uchiha Sasuke to join him. It seems they managed to infiltrate the village quite easily and successfully convinced the last loyal Uchiha to join their master. He was seen leaving the village freely by one Haruno Sakura his teammate and long time loyal fangirl. In her defense, the girl did try to stop him but he easily knocked her out and she was found the following morning unconscious by a patrol.

Sarutobi then took a short pause in his tale to let everyone assimilate what happened so far.

Tsunade had to frown at her old teammate who once again tried to harm the Leaf while Jiraya was wondering what the snake wanted to do with the Uchiha heir. Naruto had no particular reaction to those events, sure he didn't really like to associate himself with Sasuke but he never wished for anyone to become slaves to Orochimaru.

After the short recess, Sarutobi continued with the report. According to Sakura's testimony, Sasuke and the Sound Four had less than a day ahead so he organized a track and pursuit mission with the sparse elements he had at his disposal. Team 9 and 10 were available, Aburame Shino would temporary replace Naruto in Team 8 while Sakura would replace Lee in team 9, this made a total of three genin teams with a newly appointed chunin to lead them in the person of Hyuga Neji for Team 9, Nara Shikamaru for Team 10 and Aburame Shino for Team 8. The jonin sensei were all occupied with other mission at that moment.

According to the reports, the track and pursuit teams managed to catch up with the fleeing group in less than a day, apparently the Sound Four had to carry Sasuke's body who was inside a wooden box with strange markings on it, making their pace much slower than normal. As to why Sasuke was in that box no one really knew. The Konoha's forces even came in contact with the team from Suna who took part in the chunin exams by pure coincidence. As a sign of good faith between allies, the team from Suna joined them in their mission to recover the Uchiha.

With the firepower they had and the advantage in numbers, they managed to wipe out the Sound Four members. However as they were about to retrieve the box containing the body of Uchiha Sasuke, it suddenly opened and from it came out a very different Sasuke. He was a lot stronger and faster that what they could remember of him. Team 8, who was the only one around him when the box opened since all the teams chose to split in order to neutralize the four bodyguards, was not able to stop him from leaving.

Sasuke managed first to incapacitate the surprised Hinata and Kiba, the final fight took place at the Valley of the End at the borders between Fire and Rice Country. Shino was the one to face his teammate from Team 7, Sasuke ended up injuring critically Shino with a lightning jutsu that made everyone in the room frown knowing who he learned it from. Sasuke ended up leaving towards Rice Country where the Konoha forces could not follow him. The rest of the rookies were escorted back to Konoha, some more injured than the others but the one needing the most attention was Shino.

Sarutobi finished the report then urged Tsunade and Shizune to head to the hospital and take charge once there. He dismissed Naruto and Jiraya after that.

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha Hospital<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto decided to follow Tsunade and Shizune to the hospital, guessing that most of his comrades were there and especially his team. Jiraya decided to go his way, though he took the direction of Konoha's hotsprings.<p>

Once at the hospital, every medical staff immediately recognized Tsunade, she decided to go to the central office and from there organize her work for the following days with Shizune. Naruto went to the receptionist and asked for the rooms of the rookies and especially his teammates.

It turns out that thanks to Gaara's intervention and his siblings, most of the rookies were safe with only minor injuries. The only one who really needed Tsunade's help was Shino. He had been stabilized but he still needed emergency treatment.

Naruto had been happy to see Gaara again, it seemed that he was on much better terms with his family that last time. He thanks them all for their help even if Gaara said that he didn't need to, saying that Suna was Konoha's ally.

The jonin sensei started to arrive too, Kurenai was relieved to see that her team was alright. Kakashi though had a sad look in his eyes, he realized that he failed his team as a teacher. His student betrayed the Leaf and in doing so he also critically injured his own teammate. Gai and Asuma tried to cheer him up but he just went to visit Shino then left without saying a word to anyone else.

After seeing that everyone was alright or in good hands, Naruto finally decided to go home.

* * *

><p><strong>Naruto's apartment<strong>

* * *

><p>That night Naruto couldn't sleep. He thought about the last events, his meeting with Itachi and Kisame, his fight with Kabuto and then how Orochimaru almost killed him if it wasn't for Tsunade.<p>

"**You can't sleep Naru-kun ?"** Asked Natsuki through their link.

"I was thinking about my dream Na-chan, to become the Hokage has always been my dream, even before I knew that my father was the fourth." Replied Naruto.

"**What about it ? Is it not your dream anymore ?"** Natsuki asked a little confused by her mate's words.

"It's not that, I still want to become Hokage, the best there ever was. I just can't help but feel that I'm not strong enough. I need to become much more stronger than this if I want to be able to protect my precious one. The day I finally find a way to free you, I don't want to be a burden to you. You are the most powerful bijuu but there's a man with powers strong enough to control you, I can't let this happen, I won't let this happen." Confessed Naruto.

"**So that's what on your mind and keep you from sleeping … Listen to me. You will never be a burden to me, there is no risk of that man ever using his powers to control me again either. When I was forced out of your mother, I was weak and unprepared. That's how he could surprise me, I will not fall for the same attack twice believe me."** She replied to him.

"Okay I believe you, but I still want to become stronger. You may feel that I'm strong enough as I am but I can't help but feel the need to know that not only you but everyone that's precious to me is safe too." Naruto said with conviction.

"**Then there is only one way, you have to train. It may be a good idea to distance yourself from Konoha, from your life as a ninja for a while. You've come a long way in your mastery over your bloodline, but there is still more to be done. If you stay here you will be constantly interrupted in your training to become stronger." **Analyzed Natsuki.

"But where should I go ? There are some strong people out there who want my head, and now that Sasuke has gone to Orochimaru only God knows what the snake is doing with his new toy. They both pretty hate my guts." Replied Naruto.

"**We will think about it later, try to get some sleep for now. There's still some time before you have to make a decision."** Said Natsuki as they both went to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage office – One month later<strong>

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><p>It's been a month since that night where Naruto vowed to become stronger for the sake of his loved ones. During that time, Tsunade took charge and became the fifth Hokage. Sarutobi became her only adviser as she decided to fire the two others while Danzo managed to integrate the civilian council by some loop hole with his "youth centers".<p>

Tsunade was currently sitting behind the Hokage desk, Jiraya had just come back from his investigation mission this morning. As the news also concerned him, Naruto had been summoned by Tsunade to her office to hear the news from Jiraya. Sarutobi was also present in the room as Naruto arrived oblivious to why he was there. After sealing the room, Tsunade motioned for Jiraya to start his report.

"From what I could gather with my spies, it looks like there is an organization called **Akatsuki** whose goal is to gather all the bijuu, for what objective I don't know yet. They are composed of S-rank missing ninja from all villages with no distinction. I can only say so far that we know Uchiha Itachi from the Leaf and Hoshigaki Kisame from Kiri are active members while Orochimaru was at one time a member as well but decided to leave them." Started Jiraya.

"Now about our friend the snake, it seems he managed to successfully open the door to immortality. By a complex process, he is able to transfer his soul into the body of a host. Then he takes total control of that body and the soul of the previous host simply vanishes as a result. My guess is that he wanted Tsunade to heal whoever he had planned to take as a host in the event that he couldn't get the Uchiha." Continued Jiraya.

"According to my spies, both sides require long and complex preparations in order to perform what they intend to do, therefore my estimation is that we have a three year preparation time in front of us before any side decides to move again." Finished Jiraya.

"Did he … you know 'took' Sasuke's body ?" Asked Naruto.

"It seems the Uchiha did not arrive on time and Orochimaru had to transfer into another body in the mean time. So it's safe to say that he too, has three years before him." Replied Jiraya.

"That's also one of the reason we are all here today Naruto." Spoke Tsunade.

"Seeing what's ahead of you in the future, we feel it is essential that you too prepare for the future." Added Sarutobi.

"Consequently you will become my full time apprentice for the three years to come, I will take you out of the village and will train you to become Konoha's best during that time. I have already informed Kurenai about this and you will be placed on the reserved list from Konoha's ninja during that time." Finished Jiraya.

Naruto's eyes widened at all this, it was perfect he would get to do what he discussed about with Natsuki. With Jiraya by his side he would not have to fear all the time that others might come to harm him even if he seemingly had three years of peace from his worse enemies.

"When do we leave ?" Asked Naruto with a smirk.

"We leave tomorrow at dawn, go pack ant take a good look at the village, you won't be see it again for quite some time after that." Replied Jiraya.

"I'm going to miss you Jiji, Ba-chan." Said Naruto as he went to give Tsunade and Sarutobi a hug.

"We"ll miss you too brat, and I hope that when you come back the pervert will have teach you how to properly address your superiors." Tsunade said with a smirk while Sarutobi chuckled.

"You're not my superiors, your my precious ones !" Said Naruto as he finally left, no to be seen around Konoha again for the next three years.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Decided to squeeze the Uchiha retrieval mission, one thing I don't get is why none of the kunoichi got to go with them at the time. Is it Kishimoto's sexism talking again because I thought that they could have been useful to them.

Anyway as mentioned, it's time for the three years skip. I'm still debating over if I will actually show what happens during that time or to directly skip to the Shippuuden era and then use the infamous flashback jutsu on you all.

I guess we'll see next time. As usual please Read & Review.


	19. Return of the Wind

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I am glad people were pleased with the way things played out last chapter.<p>

Now, according to the reviews, most of you prefer the flash back technique for the three years gap that was initiated in the last issue. So that's what you will get, the story will restart in this chapter after the three years skip and flashbacks will provide what needs to be explained when the situation arises.

Finally, the pairing remains unchanged. I've been asked several times already and the answer stays the same, in this story Naruto will only be with Natsuki, no harem and no one else.

Sorry for releasing a little later than usual but I had to do some shopping as I imagine most of you did in preparation for the festivities that come next week end, and as an apology chapter is slightly longer than usual :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 19: Return of the Wind<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk inside her office, it was late in the morning and she was finishing some paperwork from the pile of papers that Shizune, her assistant, just brought in yesterday.

Taking a break from her current activities, she saw a picture on her desk. It was a picture taken from before she took the job of Hokage, when Naruto and Jiraya were escorting her back to Konoha. Seeing the picture made her remember that it had already been three years since Naruto left with Jiraya to improve his skills.

The pervert had regularly sent her reports on the blond's progress during the first year but it mysteriously stopped after that. It had then been two long years after that before she got news again about them. She received last month a short letter saying that they would come back the next month.

According to their letter, Jiraya and Naruto were scheduled to come back to Konoha during this week. She knew nothing of Naruto's current level of skill though, Jiraya only told her in his letters from the first year that he was training Naruto in ninjutsu, fuinjutsu and basic genjutsu. Tsunade thought that she would need to organize a test to know Naruto's true level as soon as he comes back.

She suddenly felt tired, the two empty bottles of sake behind her most likely being the reason. She slowly closed her eyes and then fell asleep with a smile on her face, thinking about the last living blood relative she had left in this world.

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha Main Gates<strong>

* * *

><p>As the sun was high in the sky, two chunin were seated at the main gate's checkpoint. Today was a slow day, no one except the regular merchants and occasional ANBU patrols had come through the gate since this morning.<p>

Suddenly, from far away on the horizon, could be seen two figures slowly making their way towards the village. As they approached, Kotetsu and Izumo could finally identify one the two shadows as Jiraya the toad sage, the other one though was wearing a white mask with a fox design and his outfit was unusual. Seeing as the mysterious man was escorted by the great Jiraya, no one seemed too anxious at letting him in.

The two men quickly went through the gate and took the direction of the Hokage tower using the rooftops, most likely not wanting to deal with anyone's curiosity just yet. All the civilians could see was two white and gray blurs traveling at top speed on top of the buildings, even shinobi had trouble seeing them moving.

They did not stop once on their way and soon arrived at the feet of the Hokage tower.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Tower<strong>

* * *

><p>The two men arrived in front of Tsunade's office, Shizune was at her desk in front of the door and took some time to notice their presence. Once she was finally aware of the arrival of the two men, she immediately recognized Jiraya but the other man though, didn't ring any bell.<p>

She granted them access to her master's office, saying that she was currently doing some non important paperwork and then followed after them as they went inside.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

* * *

><p>As the group went inside, they could see that Tsunade was indeed not doing anything important. The woman was actually asleep, drooling all over the paperwork she was supposed to fill and two empty bottles of sake could be seen behind her.<p>

Shizune was about to go wake her master up when Jiraya put a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to wait. The second man then went ahead and tried to shake the blonde woman's shoulder in order to wake her up. His action made Tsunade throw one of her chakra powered punch at him, Shizune was already fearing the worse for the stranger but what she saw made her jaw drop to the ground.

When Tsunade's punch was about to reach his face, he just used his free hand to catch it, not feeling any recoil as his hand did not even tremble. A finally awake Tsunade frowned at the man in front of her, not recognizing him and she did not see her assistant or Jiraya behind him either.

"Who the hell are you, I've never seen you before ? You've got some guts to come in here and touch the leader of this village in such a rude way !" Roared the blonde woman visibly not enjoying that wake up call.

A chuckle could be heard behind the man's mask but before Tsunade could say more he finally decided to speak.

"I'm hurt, I've been gone for only three years and you already forgot all about me Ba-chan ?" He said in a mocking tone before taking out his mask.

Tsunade finally saw Jiraya behind, then the man in front of her who again was very rude to her could only be one person, after three long years he was finally back.

"Naruto !" The shout could be heard from each side of the blond as he was tackled into a giant hug from both sides by Tsunade and Shizune.

"I'm glad you did not forget about me but could you let go, it's kinda hard to breath like this." Naruto said with a grin on his face.

The two women immediately let go of him, with both a blush on their faces. Now that they could take the time to look at him, they realized how much he changed in the last three years while Jiraya was exactly the same.

Naruto was extremely tall now, as tall as Jiraya in fact. His hair grew longer and his bangs were falling on each sides of his face. He wore a white jacket with a high collar, a white Hakama with a black sash and white Zori with black Tabi socks. He didn't seem to carry any weapon except for what looked like a small katana or wakizashi hanging on his sash.

All in all Naruto became what could only be resumed as a blond Adonis in the span of those three years, the two women in the room wondering if assuming the role of mother and sister figure for the young man in front of them was really such a good idea anymore.

When the shock of the meeting finally passed, Tsunade spoke first.

"Naruto, Jiraya why did you only contacted me once in the last two years ?" She demanded.

"Well let's just say that training was crazy and some other things too prevented us from contacting you more." Said Naruto before Jiraya could open his mouth.

Master and disciple exchanged strange looks with each other then Jiraya just shrugged and let his student continue. This did not went unnoticed by Tsunade but she chose to let it slide for now.

"Anyway, I've been gone for a long time now and I can't wait to start taking on missions again Ba-chan." Said Naruto with a grin while Tsunade was getting angrier by the second at the repetitive use of that nickname.

"Well before that I need to know more about your current level of skill Naruto. I was actually thinking about scheduling you a test in order to observe your level as soon as you get back to Konoha." Replied the Hokage.

"That's fine what do you have in mind ?" Asked Naruto.

"What's his general level of skill right now according to you Jiraya ?" She asked her ex teammate.

"Hmm, I would say definitely higher than jonin but other than that you will have to test him in each field to know for sure." Answered the toad sage cryptically. Tsunade once again felt that something was going on with Jiraya's vague answer and took notice to ask more later.

"Alright then, it seems you're still lucky as ever Naruto. I know the perfect people to test you and most of them are available this week. I will let you rest for the rest of the day then tomorrow morning you will come to the stadium in order to get tested by them." Announced Tsunade.

"Very well, if that's all I'd like to go rest for my test tomorrow then." Replied Naruto, getting a nod from Tsunade he then left her office with a **Shunshin**.

"I'll be going too Tsunade, I'll see you tomorrow at the stadium." Said Jiraya as he also left in the same manner.

"_There's definitely something going on that those two didn't tell me. We'll know more after the test tomorrow."_ Thought Tsunade as she returned to her paperwork and prepared the summons for the people who would test Naruto.

* * *

><p><strong>Naruto's Apartment<strong>

* * *

><p>This night as Naruto went to sleep he immediately accessed his mindscape. Once there, he was immediately tackled to the ground by a red blur.<p>

"**So how does it feel to finally be back home Naru-kun ?"** asked Natsuki.

"I guess it feels okay, I thought I would miss the village more but that wasn't the case." He replied.

"**Do you really plan to not tell anyone about your project ?"** She continued.

"Yes, they would try to stop me if I told them and I cannot let that happen." Naruto said with conviction.

"**Please just be careful, I don't want you to get into troubles over this ..."** She replied, obviously worried for him.

"Everything will be fine don't worry Na-chan, let's go back inside." He reassured her as they made their way into her mansion.

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha Stadium<strong>

* * *

><p>It was nine in the morning as Naruto made his way to the stadium. This brought back memories from the first time he went there for the chunin exam finals. This made him wonder how everybody else was doing these days. He directly went home yesterday to rest and did not have the opportunity to catch up with anyone.<p>

As he went inside the arena, his eyes widened as he took a look at the spectators area. It seems like word of his return and subsequent testing had spread around. In the stands could be seen lots of familiar faces.

All the rookies were there except for him and Sasuke, surprisingly Temari of the Sand was also there. He also saw Anko and Asuma. His Jiji was also there, with a kid that must have been his grandson. He recognized the last group of people as the Council of Konoha. Finally Tsunade arrived with Jiraya and Shizune behind her.

He decided to wear his mask until the fight and slowly made his way to the center of the arena.

* * *

><p><strong>Kage Box<strong>

* * *

><p>Tsunade was surprised to see so many people in the spectator seats but chose to ignore it, though the presence of the council made her wonder how they knew of the event so fast.<p>

"Uzumaki Naruto, you have been summoned here today to be tested on every field of the ninja arts before I can safely put you back on the active list of Konoha shinobi." Announced Tsunade getting a nod from the still masked Naruto.

"Your opponents for today's test will be Maito Gai for taijutsu, Yuhi Kurenai for genjutsu, Uzuki Yugao for kenjutsu and finally Hatake Kakashi for ninjutsu. Any objection ?" She said to him as he remained silent.

"Very well then, let's begin !" Concluded the Godaime.

* * *

><p><strong>Spectators Area<strong>

* * *

><p>The spectators were currently discussing about the upcoming fights.<p>

"I can't believe that Naruto gets to fight with our most powerful shinobi in each of the shinobi arts." Started Choji.

"He looks nothing like the old Naruto with those new clothes." Said Ino.

"Troublesome." Added Shikamaru.

"I wonder how he will fair against Gai-sensei." Said Lee.

"That short katana of his intrigues me." Tenten said as she observed his weapon.

"It will be interesting to see what his training under a sannin gave him." Analyzed Neji.

"There is no way he can beat any of his opponents and especially Kakashi sensei with his Sharingan." Said Sakura.

Shino, Kiba, Temari and Hinata decided to remain silent, already knowing to never underestimate Naruto.

* * *

><p><strong>Arena<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto stood in the center of the arena waiting for his opponents to arrive. A <strong>Shunshin<strong> suddenly popped in front of him, revealing one Shiranui Genma.

"As you can guess, I'll proctor again for the duration of your test." Declared Genma.

Four more **Shunshin** appeared, this time in the contestant waiting zone. Naruto's opponents all stood there with their ninja gears, ready to fight.

Gai was the first to go out and made his way towards the center of the arena to join Naruto and Genma.

**Maito Gai versus Uzumaki Naruto**

As Gai arrived in front of Naruto and Genma, he gave his opponent the 'nice guy' pose then signaled to the referee that he was ready to start.

Naruto also gave a nod to Genma and the man finally started the match.

Naruto immediately launched his trademark **Kitsune Yuurei** against his opponent but Gai easily blocked him and knew perfectly which one of the illusion was fake or not.

Before Naruto could fall back, Gai hit him with a powerful spinning kick as he called it **Konoha Senpu.**

Gai was about to charge at him but Naruto hold up his hand, asking for a moment to which Gai nodded and stopped his course.

"As expected of Maito Gai, Konoha's taijutsu specialist. I'm sorry I underestimated you, it won't happen again. Just give me a second please." Said Naruto respectfully.

Naruto then took some steps towards the spectators area and first took off his mask. Some gasp could be heard from the spectators as several women saw how handsome he looked under his mask.

Naruto then started to slowly take out his vest, showing that he was wearing nothing under it. Every women in the stadium started to blush at his action, having a good look at his body they could see that he was quite muscular but no overly so, the perfect balance between power and speed.

This also showed the different marks he had on his upper body, most already knew about two of his tattoo but it seemed he had a new one placed just above his heart. The first mark on his left forearm was the tattoo of his dragon summoning contract, the second was the mark of the fox on his right biceps and finally the last one over his heart had the form of a small circle with three smaller marks inside that looked like coma and were placed in a triangular way.

Naruto finally took out the katana he had on his hips and placed it with his vest and mask on the ground in a safe place before making his way back towards the center of the arena.

When he got there he did a single hand sign then called his technique, **"Futon : Muga no Kyouchi !"**. The air around them started to feel strange and heavy for Genma and Gai, as if someone had given them additional weights to wear over their clothes. People could also see that the strange tattoo over Naruto's heart changed, the circle disappeared leaving only the three remaining coma, and even the spectators could feel the air around them getting warmer.

Naruto then signaled to Gai that he was ready with a bow, thanking him for his patience.

The two fighters resumed their match, exchanging blows in a high level taijutsu match. Naruto changed his strategy, opting to only try to counter Gai's attempts and dancing all around his opponent. The fight went on like this for several minutes but to the more experienced shinobi in the audience, whatever Naruto did earlier worked since he was increasingly getting faster than Gai and managed to connect more and more counters against his opponent.

After another high speed exchange, the two finally separated. Gai was seen panting and trying to catch his breath while Naruto seemed perfectly fine.

"How did you do this Naruto ? You seem so much faster than in the beginning of our fight my youthful opponent." Asked a confused Gai.

"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it. I may be convinced to tell you after our fight if you defeat me Gai-san." Replied Naruto with a smirk. Gai replied with his eternal nice guy pose then took a strange stance, making those who knew of it in the stands widen their eyes.

"**Hachimon Tonkou, Kai !"** Yelled Gai as his body radiated with chakra. He then charged at Naruto with godlike speed, leaving a trail of dust in his path.

The taijutsu exchange resumed but this time Naruto was hard pressed and took a few very powerful hits without even once being able to counter his opponent. Knowing that he had to somehow change the flow of this match, Naruto decided to unleash more of his powers and fell back for a moment.

"So that's the ultimate form of your Gokken taijutsu style, I'm deeply impressed but let me show you one of the ultimate forms of my style." Announced Naruto as he closed his eyes and called his next technique **"Futon : Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami !"**, once again his new tattoo changed and this time it was one of the coma that disappeared. With his eyes still closed he told Gai that he was ready.

Knowing better than to underestimate his opponent Gai simply charge at Naruto again. To his great surprise though, before his punch even reached halfway of the distance to Naruto's face, the blond had already launched his counter and kicked him in the sternum. With both their speed greatly increased that counter did its job, Gai was down and had trouble to get up or even catch his breath.

Before Naruto could further press his advantage, Gai hold out his hand and signaled the end of the fight, stopping Naruto in his tracks.

"I've seen enough Naruto, with our current level of skill going any further would place this fight in a life or death situation which we don't need. Your taijutsu skill is most likely close to mine though we can't be sure. I know I didn't defeat you but could you explain to me what those two jutsu of yours did during our fight ? I'm most impressed by the second one, even Sharingan and Byakugan wielders can't predict my moves when I open my inner the gates. The first one was impressive too, that speed bonus it gave you was surprising." Said Gai.

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you Gai-san, no one should be able to copy or break them anyway. You are both right and wrong on my techniques, the first one didn't get me a speed boost as you said. It is actually the opposite, it is no my speed that increased but yours that dropped." Started Naruto but seeing Gai frown, not understanding or maybe not believing his claims he continued his explanation.

"What I mean by that is that while I sustained my speed, I used my jutsu to slow yours down. **Muga no Kyouchi** is the absolute control over the wind element. What you felt in the beginning was me applying pressure to the air all around us in the arena in order to replicate the environment of a high altitude place by releasing high quantity of my chakra in the air. As a consequence, the level of Oxygen in the air decreased and every effort you made only served to tire you out faster while I was aware of all this and more importantly I trained my body to work in this kind of environment." Explained Naruto to an astonished audience.

"Now as for the second move, I know that your style is great against doujutsu users but mine had nothing to do with it. **Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami** gives me the absolute understanding of the air flowing around me. I don't need to see, hear or even smell my opponent, in the field of my jutsu I am able to feel any movement made by my opponent and then adjust to it. The faster or stronger my opponent is and the more damage he will receive when countered. As soon as you charged at me and moved your arm by even an inch I knew how to counter you. Me closing my eyes is just a way to confuse or destabilize my opponents." Finished Naruto, leaving Gai and the audience gasp at the infinite possibilities that his style offered, though some already planned to discover how to reproduced it for their own gains even if he said that it was supposedly impossible to copy.

"That's amazing Naruto, to think that someone so young could perform those things. You said that **Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami** was one of your ultimate forms, then am I correct to assume that you have other forms of that level ?" Asked Gai.

"That's correct Gai-san, but I'll let you and the others discover them if I ever feel like I have to use them today." Replied Naruto with a grin.

Gai simply smiled and left the arena to join the spectators after giving him a final 'nice guy' pose.

"We will have a small pause then the next fight will begin." Announced Genma.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** There we go, post timeskip Naruto and his new powers. I think I've pushed his mastery over the wind element further than what has ever been done for him.

Tell me what you think about those two jutsu or mode, not sure how to classify them yet.

For a better vision of his new outfit, just Google Ulquiorra's outfit from Bleach.

Naruto will of course at one point explain how he developed those new skills.

Next time will be the end of the test matches.

Until then, as usual please Read & Review.

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><p><strong>New jutsu  moves:**

**Futon : Muga no Kyouchi** , translates as the State of Self Actualization. Naruto always had it from the moment he finished his training with Natsuki after those six years but just used it subconsciously. In this state, his control over the wind element in an area of his choice increases greatly. You may compare it with the initial "opening" of Gai and Lee's Gates system, only applied to wind control.

**Futon : Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami **, translates as the Pinnacle of Great Wisdom. To use in combination with the **Muga no Kyouchi**, it allows Naruto to go deeper into his 'understanding' of the wind around him. In this state, Naruto can 'feel' the sightliest movement of air particles in his field of action around him, enabling for him to 'predict' his opponent's movements and then adjust his counters accordingly.

As you may, or may not, have noticed, both jutsu need hand signs and out loud name calling. This has of course an explanation. I will ask those who already know where those moves come from to refrain from spoiling the other readers about the two other potential jutsu I will reveal for Naruto, well at least for one chapter or two, I thank you in advance.


	20. Genius of Hard Work

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>The anonymous reviewer 'narutoFan' left an interesting assessment for the last chapter, he felt that Naruto showing the whole stadium what he could do served no purpose and on the contrary allowed potential enemies to know how to counter him an so on …<p>

Now I'm pretty sure it was mentioned that every move he pulled was based on his bloodline and therefore no one should be able to copy any of them.

Furthermore, it is highly practical for him (and for me) to describe once and for all when an ally should get the hell out of his 'dome of control', if they don't want to suffocate or get caught in some of his techniques for example.

Then again there's no real easy counter to what he showed previously, to adapt one's body to be able to perform in high-altitude / low-oxygen concentration environments or to find a way around of someone predicting your every move based on the molecules of air around you is no easy feat.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 20: Genius of Hard Work<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha Stadium – Spectators Area<strong>

As Naruto was taking a highly deserved break, people were commenting on his first fight with the taijutsu specialist of Konoha. The most impressed were of course the shinobi whose style are heavily based on taijutsu as the Hyuga or Inuzuka.

Hinata and Kiba were happy for their teammate while Neji had to admit that Naruto did once again surpass Fate, he, a non doujutsu holder was able to go above his limitations in order to achieve what even the most powerful Byakugan or Sharingan users couldn't in defeating the Gokken.

For Lee, it was a more complicated issue. Thanks to the return of Tsunade he had been able to resume his duties as a shinobi after she healed him. He trained hard and non stop following the footsteps of his sensei. To see someone his age perform on the same level as his teacher made him question if hard work was enough to achieve greatness. Sensing his student's turmoil, Gai who had joined the spectators told him that even Naruto, someone considered a genius like the Uchiha or Hyuga, most likely also trained hard to reach his current level despite his natural talents. This cheered him up and soon the duo started to exchange 'nice guys' poses and 'spring of youth' declarations.

The others were simply in awe or prostrated in silence at the display of skill from Naruto. Even Sakura, who had been studying under Tsunade for the last three years, now felt respect for Naruto. On her master's orders, she had regularly trained with Gai and his student in order to perfect her medical taijutsu style and knew firsthand how powerful Gai's Gokken style was.

The break finally ended and Naruto stood up ready for his next test.

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><p><strong>Kage Box<strong>

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><p>Tsunade, who was silently enjoying a cup of sake, also stood up and announced the next part of Naruto's test.<p>

"You will now be tested in your genjutsu proficiency Naruto. Kurenai please start the test." Declared the blonde Hokage.

She was about to sit down again when Naruto interrupted her.

"Actually Hokage-sama, if it's not a problem I would like the next test to be on genjutsu and kenjutsu at the same time." Asked a surprisingly polite Naruto.

Tsunade quickly regained her composure from being called by a respectful name by Naruto and narrowed her eyes before speaking again.

"Are you implying that you won't be able to fight seriously if you're facing only one kunoichi and not two? I thought you would be more respectful about women, especially since this is your teacher that was chosen to test you." Said an irate Tsunade.

Naruto stayed calm and bowed his head before replying.

"I assure you that it is nothing like that, surely you are aware that I never could perform the simplest genjutsu in my youth because of reasons out of my control." He started getting a nod from his leader perfectly aware of his chakra control problem.

"Well instead of trying to fix it, I found a way around my problem. But as a consequence, my genjutsu techniques don't work like the classical ones, I have to rely on other shinobi arts to take full advantage of them and kenjutsu is a perfect one for that." He continued.

"Finally as you said, Kurenai-sensei is my teacher, Yugao-sensei also taught me a lot in the past. I have the utmost respect for both of them as women and as kunoichi, they are both very beautiful and deadly in their own field of expertise. I am perfectly fine with staying a chunin should I fail to perform adequately against both of them at the same time." Finished Naruto as he bowed before Kurenai and Yugao this time.

Both women blushed at his last argument on their skill and feminine charms, and knew he meant no disrespect towards them. They nodded to Tsunade, signaling they were fine with what Naruto asked.

"Seeing as Kurenai and Yugao agreed to your idea, I see no reason not to allow it as long as you know that you will be doing lots of gate guarding time should you fail this test." Finally announced Tsunade with a smirk when she got a nod from Naruto.

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><p><strong>Arena<strong>

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><p>As the two women made their way towards him and Genma, Naruto once again started to unzip his jacket and then took it off and put it aside with his mask but kept the katana this time. He got the same reaction from the women in the audience he got the first time and especially from the two in front of him right there.<p>

"D-Do you have to fight a-almost naked again Naruto?" Said a blushing Kurenai having the chance this time to observe Naruto's new stature up close while Yugao, who did not have her usual ANBU gear in order to not reveal her identity, chose to watch a surprisingly interesting ground.

"Hai I do, I promise there's a good reason and you will understand why soon sensei." Replied an embarrassed Naruto while scratching the back of his head.

Seeing as everyone was ready, Genma gave approval for the test to start.

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><p><strong>Yuhi Kurenai &amp; Uzuki Yugao versus Uzumaki Naruto<strong>

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><p>Naruto immediately did a familiar hand sign and launch his <strong>Muga no Kyouchi<strong> Wind field then took a defensive stance with his short katana in his right hand ready to pierce his target. It was a beautiful wakizashi, with a blue handle while the Tsuba was composed of two golden metal pieces that seemed to form a 'S' symbol when placed together around the blade.

Kurenai chose to stay relatively close to him, having heard of his new aptitude to drain his opponent's stamina she wasn't too concerned about that since her art didn't rely strongly on stamina. She then prepared her next move against him.

Yugao, however, decided to put some distance between them and wait for the right moment to charge in as Kurenai would no doubt give her an opportunity to strike at Naruto once he shows an opening in his guard. She decided to send chakra to her feet and be ready to jump in when she could since contrary to her friend, Yugao needed the stamina to support her kenjutsu.

Seeing his two sensei in position and ready to exploit any opening he would show, Naruto decided to prepare himself in order to launch his first genjutsu technique. He used his katana to lightly cut the skin on his thumb then used some blood over his fox tattoo. The tattoo glowed once then suddenly an explosion of chakra radiated all over the audience. The wind picked up violently, dragging lots of dust all over the arena. Byakugan holders could see that Naruto's chakra output practically doubled, to the rest the air felt a lot warmer to them high in the stands.

As he took back his defensive stance, Naruto finally launch his genjutsu, **"Futon : Maboroshi no Sekai !"**.

As everyone waited to see what Naruto's jutsu would do, they were surprised that it actually did nothing as both Kurenai and Yugao were still up with their guard raised. Everyone then assumed he failed at catching either of them in his technique.

Kurenai immediately took this opportunity to launch her own genjutsu, **"Magen : Jubaku Satsu !"** all those who had already been subjected to that jutsu knew Kurenai would trap her victim in an illusion that would make it seems like a tree out of nowhere was coiling itself around them, making them unable to move from that spot and thus completely defenseless.

It looked like her jutsu managed to catch Naruto off guard since he suddenly dropped his guard, his eyes looked empty and he had both his arms loosely hanging on each side of his body, though he still hold his katana.

Seeing the opportunity she was waiting for, Yugao immediately dashed towards the defenseless Naruto in order to incapacitate him in a submission hold before signaling to Kurenai to drop her control over him. Both were a little sad that their prized student would fail so fast against them when he announced that he wouldn't.

No one in the stadium was expecting Naruto to get out of that situation except for one smirking pervert who couldn't wait to see the face of every body once the trick is revealed.

As Yugao appeared in a blinding speed right behind Naruto, ready to put her katana close to his neck to show that he lost, she was surprised that the moment she touched him instead of making contact with his skin, her blade continued and went through what looked like an illusion that did not even dispel.

Another Naruto then slowly appeared out of thin air right in front of her, he held his blade back although pointing the tip in her direction then she heard him slowly say **"Futon : Kaze Shinsou."**

The blade of Naruto's katana instantly glowed as he pronounced those words then in a flash, it seemed to extend itself at an amazing speed as everyone could see the tray of light leaving the handle of his katana then traveling in Yugao's direction.

Years of experience allowed the ANBU operative to narrowly escape the flash of light coming her way but her eyes suddenly widened when she saw the smirk on his face, she wasn't his real target. She tried to warn Kurenai of the incoming danger but was too late already as the ray of light was already in front of her friend.

Kurenai was not expecting such an attack and in a reflex, she closed her eyes at the last moment, seeing the approaching blade aimed at her neck. When she reopened her eyes she saw that she was fine but heard cracking sounds from the tree just behind her. She understood that if Naruto wanted his blade would have killed her just a second ago. She simply smiled then stood back deciding to not interfere anymore in this test.

Seeing that his sensei retired from the fight, Naruto bowed to her then charged at Yugao with his katana. As she saw him approach ready to slash in a vertical swing, she hold up her own katana to block him but suddenly felt something cold against the back of her neck. Slowly turning around she saw the smirking face of one Uzumaki Naruto holding his katana against her neck.

"I yield Naruto, congratulations." Said Yugao with a smile.

"Thanks Yugao-sensei." Replied Naruto as he relaxed his body and canceled all his jutsu.

Kurenai then joined them in the center of the arena and spoke first.

"Before we start, I would like confirmation that you only used genjutsu and kenjutsu in this test." She said receiving a nod from Naruto.

"He's telling the truth sensei, I had my Byakugan activated at all time during the test." Said Hinata from the stands.

"I see, then I'm ashamed to ask but could you explain how you caught us both in your genjutsu and how it works since I didn't even felt any disturbance in my chakra system. I would also like to know how you escaped one of my most powerful genjutsu since the last time we tried you couldn't even resist the most basic ones." Said Kurenai.

"When did you assume that you were not caught in my genjutsu sensei ?" Asked Naruto with a grin.

"You once taught me that genjutsu is the ability to manipulate one's flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses. Basically you take something fake and plant it inside the mind of your victim. Now, as you know I never had the chakra control to perform that, so I went the other way around and managed to find a way to create my own genjutsu art. What if instead of disrupting my enemy's senses, I made it so that what he really senses from the outside is fake. Inside my wind field, you cannot trust you brain or senses." Started Naruto as everyone around him was oblivious to what he said.

"I can control what you see using the refraction phenomena that applies when you see mirages in the desert by overheating the air in certain spots. I can also control what you hear using the vibration in the air in order to create any kind of sound I wish to make you hear such as incoming footsteps in a wrong direction. I can also make you feel the wind generated by the movement of something around you, whether it is real or not. Obviously I can also do the opposite and mask my true presence to you in all of those aspects." Explained Naruto leaving once again the entire audience speechless.

"There is no dispelling against this technique since I do not feed you any of my chakra to tamper with your brain. In fact, as far as you know everything you sensed in that field was real and your brain never lied to you. Same about doujutsu users or mind blocks, none of them can counter this." Finished Naruto with a smirk while some of the Hyuga and Uchiha lovers had to scowl at that assessment.

"That was amazing Naruto, you went above everything I thought was possible and made your own way in an art that was supposedly not made for powerhouse chakra holders like you. How did you escape my jutsu?" Said Kurenai.

"For one you were focusing your jutsu on a mirage, even then in order to reach me you have to cast you genjutsu by expelling your chakra in the air and as you know I can disrupt anything that comes at me by using air as a medium inside my field." Replied Naruto.

"Very well, seeing how you countered me and then caught both of us in your illusion field I think it is safe to say that you have at least reached elite jonin level in genjutsu skills." Analyzed Kurenai before turning her head towards Yugao.

"I see that you opted for something slightly longer than those kunai you used to wield to improve your defensive stance as I said that it was one of your weakness. I also heard about your fight with Momochi Zabuza the Kiri no Kijin, and how he was able to read your reach even when you used your **Kaze no Ken**, it seems you also overcame that weakness by constantly changing your weapon's reach with that strange piercing technique of yours." Said Yugao getting a nod from Naruto.

"I will concur with Gai and Kurenai, you also have at least elite jonin level in kenjutsu skills." Yugao said finishing her analysis.

"Thanks Yugao-sensei." Replied a smiling Naruto.

"We will take a break to allow everyone to have lunch and then finish with the last test this afternoon." Announced Genma.

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><p><strong>Kage Box<strong>

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><p>Tsunade was about to leave and go back to her office when a chunin suddenly shunshined in front of her.<p>

"Hokage-sama, emergency transmission from Suna, The Kazekage has been kidnapped and Akatsuki is most likely behind it according to them. They require immediate assistance and the return of their ambassador Temari." Said the chunin.

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><p><strong>AN:** What do you think about Naruto's new set of skills and the way genjutsu applies to him ? I know the visual mirage thing is a bit forced but well it's not entirely impossible.

His new sword and sword-style is obviously inspired from Bleach which I don't own either. Its origin in Naruto's world will be explained later. I was tempted for a moment to give it the actual powers it has in bleach but having an extendable sword was kinda hard to squeeze in, even for me :)

Again what was "disclosed" in this chapter shouldn't be used against Naruto in the future since there's no counter to it as far as I know / want, and there is no way to copy it either.

Next time, the end of the testing with Kakashi or the start of the Gaara rescue mission ?

Find out in the next issue and as usual please Read and Review.

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><p><strong>New jutsu :<strong>

**Futon : Maboroshi no Sekai** , translates as the World of Illusions. Naruto's way to cast his own genjutsu field. Inside his zone of influence, he can control his opponent's senses the same way a classic genjutsu would but without the need to 'inject' his chakra into their brains.

**Futon : Kaze Shinsou** , translates as Divine Wind Spear. Extends the reach of Naruto's weapon instantly the same way his **Kaze no Ken** does but the reach is random and goes as long as Naruto wishes inside his wind field.


	21. Race against Time

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I've got an interesting review complaining about Gaara being made the Kazekage while Naruto is not Hokage despite being stronger than him, somehow making this a plot hole. I'm not sure I understand where this comes from, do you seriously believe that everyone in this world have their jobs because they deserve it? Of course not, it is most of the time a chain of events and circumstances that leads someone to reach his or her position in the world.<p>

That being said, on a more serious note, a ninja village is what we may call a dictatorship. So having one of the children of the deceased Kazekage replace him is not really unexpected nor illogical. Gaara being the stronger one of the three siblings makes his nomination quite understandable. I'm not even starting on why Naruto isn't made Hokage.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 21: Race against Time<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

Tsunade sat behind her desk with a cup of tea in her hand. She was reading the scroll sent to them by Suna, asking for Konoha's help in dealing against Akatsuki who abducted Gaara the Kazekage. She knew that time was a critical factor for the rescue mission she was about to program.

Out of all her shinobi, she knew that only Naruto and Jiraya had experience in fighting against Akatsuki. She would also need a good tracking team to go with them as well as a good medic. Having made her choice, she called for Shizune to start summoning the people who would take part in the mission.

She also summoned an ANBU team to go to the stadium and tell all those present there that the tests were canceled. She had already seen enough of Naruto's abilities and knew which rank he would assume now that he's back in active duty.

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><p><strong>Timeskip – Half an hour later<strong>

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><p>Inside Tsunade's office now stood several people. Temari ambassador of Suna was wondering why she was summoned by the Hokage and apparently she wasn't the only one. Team 8 with their jonin sensei Kurenai as well as Jiraya the toad sage and Sakura were also here. Naruto was the first to break the silence as usual.<p>

"Why are we here Ba-chan ? I thought I had one hour before the test resumes." He asked clueless as to why he was called here while in the middle of a meal eating his tenth bowl or ramen.

"Your test has been canceled, there's a emergency. Thirty minutes ago, we received a coded message from Suna saying that Gaara had been kidnapped. They spotted at least two enemies, wearing black robes with red clouds on them. They are aware of our past experience in dealing with Akatsuki and have asked for our help. Ambassador Temari, you are also to return to your village with the team I will send." Replied Tsunade.

Temari was speechless, a million things flashed in her mind. Someone was actually strong enough to come inside her village and kidnap her brother. Hinata had a hand on the Suna representative's shoulder trying to comfort her. Kiba and Kurenai stayed silent.

"Is it Itachi and Kisame again ?" Asked Jiraya in his serious spy mode, gathering as much Intel as he could. Sakura's ears perked up at the mention of the Uchiha member.

"We're not sure yet, it was night time there when the attack took place. All we know is that one of them was using a strange creature to fly and he also used high level explosives as his main attacks." Replied the Hokage.

"I thought you wouldn't let me take missions again before the end of the tests." Said Naruto.

"It's an emergency, you and Jiraya are the only shinobi who have prior experience with Akatsuki. Team 8 will be the tracking team while Sakura will be the medic support." Started Tsunade.

"In fact, I've seen enough of your abilities this morning. You were already highly skilled in ninjutsu before you even left with the pervert. So with my power as the Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, it is my pleasure to promote you to the rank of jonin of Konoha." Finished Tsunade with a smile.

"Not to sound ungrateful but are you sure the Council will roll with that ? I don't want to cause you any additional troubles." Naruto said with concern in his voice. He knew how the council was always trying to harm him one way or the other, Jiji could never completely protect him against them. He didn't want to have Tsunade deal with those imbeciles.

"You're a hundred years too young to worry about me Brat ! For your information, since I took the Hat after sensei retired, I fired all of the previous Elder Council. Since then the civilian council had a lot less political power than in the past since they lost the support of the old fools. Sarutobi sensei is the only member of the new Elder Council now." Replied Tsunade with a smirk.

"Very well, I suppose Ero-sennin is in charge then, and when do we leave ?" Asked Naruto.

"Yes he is and you leave in half an hour. Dismissed." Said Tsunade as everyone started to leave her office. She had a really bad feeling about this mission and hoped nothing wrong happens to the team she just sent out.

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><p><strong>Wind Country Borders<strong>

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><p>It had been two days since the Konoha team had left, they were about to cross the border over Wind Country. Naruto took this opportunity to catch up with everyone since he had been too busy to do it before now with the testing and all.<p>

He was pleased to learn that Hinata and Kiba were both chunin rank. He still couldn't believe that Sakura started to train seriously and even became Tsunade's apprentice. Apparently, after Sasuke's betrayal and with him being gone for three years, Team 7 was dismantled and Shino was placed as his temporary replacement in team 8.

He also leaned about the other rookies, everyone became chunin except for Neji who was already jonin. He tried to speak with Temari, to keep her from thinking too much about her missing brother. Kankuro and her were also jonin and of course Gaara was their Kazekage. She told him about the events that led her brother to change from an unstable killing machine to the highly respected leader of her village.

It all started when they came back from the failed invasion of Konoha. After being debriefed by their Council, it was revealed to everyone that it was thanks to Gaara's intervention that their alliance with Konoha was still holding. How he managed to prevent their troops from be slaughtered along with Oto and then the discovery of the traitorous snake who fooled them into participating in that war by impersonating their previous Kage.

At first, Gaara was lost and didn't know how to deal with all the praise he received. Then, he slowly but surely changed and opened up to more and more people. He even took a student and often put his life on the line to save the life of others during missions. After a while, everyone came to respect and like him. Being the strongest shinobi in their village and coming from the family of the previous leader, he was naturally chosen to become their new Kazekage.

Her tale made Naruto smile, he was happy for his fellow jinchuriki. Though he wondered if the same thing could one day happen for him in Konoha. How many lives would he have to save, how many allies would he need to bring in before people acknowledged him for being something other than the demon reincarnated. How much more would he need to sacrifice before the village finally sees him for a human being and not a monster. For the benefit of the village, he still hold his true lineage secret, fearing that Iwa would try to invade them again if they learn about his ties to the Uzumaki and Namikaze households.

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><p><strong>Sunagakure<strong>

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><p>The group finally made its way to Suna one day later. They were immediately directed to the hospital where Kankuro was currently being treated after his fight with one of the enemy. He was suffering from a case of severe poisoning and none of the local doctors were able to help him. It was apparently a new type of poison they never encountered before and none of the antidotes they had seemed to work on slowing down the progress of the poison.<p>

Sakura proved that she was indeed the student of Tsunade when she took charge of his case and succeeded in curing him. She demonstrated some impressive healing skills and jutsu. She also quickly took command of every medical personal that was present and worked with them in order to produce an antidote for Kankuro. She also made additional doses for the rest of the team, should they need it when facing the same opponent's poison again.

When Kankuro recovered enough to speak, he gave them all the information they needed in order to rescue Gaara. Apparently one of the Akatsuki member was Akasuna no Sasori, ex member of their village and expert in the art of puppetry. Kankuro provided them with a small piece of Sasori's puppet he was able to detach when they were fighting in the desert. Naruto promised him that he would bring Gaara back alive.

They were about to leave when Temari was held back by the council, her sensei Baki explained that the council would not allow her to leave for the rescue mission and that she had to stay in the village to help increase the defenses in case of another country attacking them while their leader was down. This greatly angered the Suna princess, she was about to disobey when another person jumped in front of them. It was Chiyo, the retired Puppet Mistress of Suna, Sasori was her grandson and she wanted to be the one to stop him.

Seeing that Suna would also send someone powerful enough, Temari finally decided to stand down and stayed in the village as ordered. She could only look helplessly as the ninja from Konoha left Suna, with their tracking ninja following the trail Kankuro gave them in order to save her brother Gaara.

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><p><strong>River Country<strong>

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><p>The trail left by Kankuro led them directly into River Country. Naruto was glad to finally leave the desert, they were now jumping from tree to tree in a huge forest following the scent left behind by Sasori.<p>

Hinata suddenly stopped on a branch and signaled for everyone that they had company. She had activated her Byakugan as soon as they left the desert and entered the dense forest.

"Two huge chakra sources right in front of us, one of them has so much chakra if feels like looking at Naruto-kun." Explained Hinata.

They did not have to wait long as two minutes later two familiar faces appeared in front of them. Naruto and Jiraya immediately recognized those faces for in front of them now stood Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi.

"So we meet again Naruto-kun, Jiraya-sama." Said Itachi in an emotionless voice.

"What's with the cool attitude, not running away again today?" Asked Naruto with a smirk.

"Still cocky as ever, Gaki." Replied Kisame with a murderous look in his eyes.

"You seriously think you can defeat me with just you two against us all?" Jiraya joined them in their conversation.

"We will see, won't we?" Replied Kisame as he took out his huge sword, ready to slice everything in his path.

However Jiraya was not fooled by them and knew they were merely stalling, trying to delay them in their mission to save the Kazekage. So he formed a strategy and informed the others.

"We don't have time for this, Naruto will take care of Itachi while I go against Kisame. I want the rest of you to go ahead and locate their base but do not engage them. Be careful, they may have set some traps along the way." Ordered Jiraya getting nods from everyone as they ran past them.

Kisame tried to stop them but Jiraya appeared in front of him instantly and delivered a powerful punch to his head, sending him backwards nursing his jaw then went after him.

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>During the time Jiraya went to stop Kisame, neither Naruto nor Itachi moved from their spot, still facing each other in silence.<p>

"What was Jiraya-sama thinking, leaving you alone against me." Said Itachi, strangely pointing his finger at Naruto.

This was in fact his first move, as he called his jutsu in his mind **_"Utakata !"_**, it was a hypnotic attack that left his opponent at his mercy. By merely pointing his fingers at someone he could direct this genjutsu against that person. It seemed to work since his blond opponent suddenly lost his focus and relaxed his arms, signaling that the jutsu most likely caught him.

Itachi drew a kunai and ran towards his opponent ready to incapacitate him. As he tried to pierce his target, the kunai went right through it. The Akatsuki operative's eyes widened, shocked to have been caught in what must have been a genjutsu as the illusion in front of him slowly disappeared.

"Very impressive Naruto-kun." He said stoically as he activated his Sharingan, not wanting to be deceived again. As his doujutsu activated, he was extremely surprised to see chakra flowing everywhere around him.

"I always thought you would never be able to cast a genjutsu with your high chakra reserves." Added Itachi trying to fish for information out of the young man in front of him.

"I guess your file on me is outdated then." Called Naruto as he came out from behind a tall tree, without his jacket and his katana in his hand.

Itachi immediately launched a new jutsu as he confirmed with his doujutsu that the Naruto in front of him was real.

"**Katon : Gokakyu no jutsu !"** He expelled a huge fireball in Naruto's direction.

The fireball ran its course perfectly in Naruto's direction but the Uchiha prodigy had to frown as the jutsu hit what looked like an illusion again. He was sure the one in front of him was real, there was no way someone could hit him with a genjutsu while he had his Sharingan activated.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sounds of footsteps coming from his right, but his eyes widened as he felt the blade of a katana suddenly piercing his body from the left. He turned his head to the left and saw a smirking Naruto holding his katana.

Naruto thought he had succeeded but Itachi suddenly smiled, all Naruto heard was **"Bunshin Dai Bakuha !"**. He cursed as he knew the blast would hit him point blank, seeing no other choice he called his next jutsu **"Senpo : Ryu no Hada !"**.

There was a short flash, then an explosion shook the entire area. When the dust settled down, Itachi went out of the woods where he had used a K**awarimi **to substitute himself with a log. He raised an eyebrow at what he saw, near the center of the explosion stood Naruto unharmed, two huge black wings spread around his body in a protective stance.

Naruto cursed himself for underestimating his opponent's tactic, he had to reveal something he didn't want to be known just yet. Still hidden behind his dragon wings he prepared his next move as he drew his katana in the direction of Itachi.

"**Futon : Kaze Shinsou !"** was all Itachi heard when he felt his heart explode, slowly looking down he only felt a gush of wind from where his heart used to be before he fell to the ground dead.

From his original position Naruto fully retracted his wings, revealing the same stance he had in his test against Yugao when he used his long range wind spear jutsu.

When he made his way to the down body of Itachi, he was surprised to see the face of a completely different man he never saw before. The man still wore the Akatsuki outfit just like the Itachi he fought just moments ago. Deciding to not lose more time than he could afford he sealed the body in a scroll then moved on after dispelling all his techniques.

"I have to catch up with the others, hope the pervert is fine." Said Naruto as he jumped in the direction the rest of the team took earlier.

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><p><strong>AN:** Decided to stop the chapter here, next time will be 100% fighting chapter.

I was not sure on where all this took place in classic Naruto, I remember them in a forest, then Kakashi and Naruto chasing after Deidara on top of a river or something. Looking at the Naruto world map I found that River country was between Wind and Fire Country so I chose it as the place for this confrontation.

As you can see Naruto is not invincible in his Wind field, he can still get surprised. (for now)

Next, yes Naruto is a dragon sage, he'll show off more technique in the future.

As usual please Read and Review.

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><p><strong>New jutsu :<strong>

**Senpo : Ryu no Hada** , translates as Sage Arts : Dragon Skin. One of Naruto's basic defense in dragon sage mode. He deploys his two wings around his body to protect him from an attack. The scales on those wings are extremely durable and can withstand most elemental attacks.


	22. Brethren

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I'm glad I was right about the current location of the group in River Country. People seemed pleased with Naruto's growth and his new skill set as a dragon sennin in his fight against the fake Uchiha. Everything will be explained in due time so there's no need to worry about the how or the when he developed those skills.<p>

Now I know the story is lacking in the romance department as of late, and that last chapter didn't have any Natsuki and Naruto interaction. Don't worry, she's still there and will have her part again in the story soon.

I'm trying to have the story follow a certain rhythm and we are indeed currently in a fast-paced moment of the story, action packed. Slower-paced time will come after this, and come on now, Naruto is back from his trip since what, four days, he's been through the testing and is already on a S-rank mission. That's a pretty tight schedule if you want my opinion.

Getting close to my 200th review in less than three weeks of existence for the story, so big thanks to all my loyal reviewers. It's your participation that keeps me motivated and keeps this story alive and, I dare hope, interesting.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 22: Brethren<strong>

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><p><strong>River Country – Unknown Cave<strong>

In a huge and dark cave stood a strange structure. It looked like the upper body of a humanoid form, aside from the bust a head and two hands could be clearly identified. The two hands were opened and had their palms facing up, in a beggar position. On each fingers but one, stood the members of the Akatsuki organization. In the center of the cave was the floating body of the Kazekage, threads of chakra linking it to the statue.

"They're here, right in front of the cave entrance as we speak." Announced a voice from the group, he had a strange complexion and from the top of his body could be seen what looked like the mouth of a carnivorous plant.

"How many of them Zetsu ?" Asked another voice.

"I saw five of them, they're from the same group with the Toad and the jinchuriki. The seal on the door will not hold them forever." Zetsu replied.

"We can't move from this spot until the sealing is done, **Gedo Mazo** still needs one hour to absorb the essence of the Ichibi." Said the unknown voice.

"It seems I failed in slowing down the invaders. Jiraya saw right through our plan to stall them and gave orders for their group to split. I fought against Uzumaki Naruto while the toad sage himself went for Kisame." Reported Itachi to his group as he came out of his meditation trance.

"What do you mean you failed ? The Kyuubi jinchuriki should have been an easy match for you, how could a mere chunin defeat you ?" Replied the first voice.

"The data we have on him before he disappeared three years ago are greatly outdated. Even if I was not using my full force against him he was able to quickly defeat me with unknown techniques. I don't think I even managed to injure him." Said Itachi, greatly surprising the other people in the room.

They were interrupted by the awakening form of Kisame, most likely done with his fight against Jiraya too.

"Report Kisame !" Yelled the same voice.

"I failed to stop Jiraya, damn that old man is crafty." Snarled the ex swordsman of the Hidden Mist Village leaving the audience in the room hanging for his input on the sennin.

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><p><em><span>Flashback<span> – 30 minutes ago_

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><p><em>As Kisame recovered from the hit he just received from Jiraya, the Toad Sage joined him. They faced each other in the middle of a clearing.<em>

"_**Doton : Yomi Numa !"** Yelled Jiraya as he was the first to move._

_Kisame suddenly found himself sinking into the ground. As he looked down he saw that a small swamp appeared out of nowhere at his feet, dragging him down in the process. While he was distracted, Jiraya was already in front of him. Jiraya leaped at him with a **Rasengan **already formed in his right hand, ready to finish him. _

_Kisame instantly took out his sword **Samehada** and put it front of him in opposition to the incoming **Rasengan**. The swirling chakra orb lost some of its power at the contact, much to Jiraya's amazement._

_The recoil produced by the two clashing techniques allowed Kisame to get free from the swamp that Jiraya created to stop his movements. The Mist missing shinobi then took the opportunity to attack. He went through his own hand signs in preparation._

"_**Suiton : Dai Bakusui Shouha !"** Said Kisame as he expelled an enormous wave of water out of his mouth completely submerging the area around them._

_Jiraya simply jumped in the air and then stood on top of the water surface once the jutsu settled down. He couldn't relax though, since Kisame wasn't finished and was going through hand signs again for another jutsu._

"_**Suiro Same Odori no jutsu !"** Kisame said. As he completed his technique all the water around them gathered in one point taking the form of a gigantic water bubble. It trapped them both inside._

_The strange technique also allowed Kisame to fusion with his sword. The result was a grotesque hybrid form between a shark and a man. Jiraya stood in his spot inside the giant water prison, not moving, with his eyes closed holding his breath in order to not suffocate. He had two small frogs on both his shoulders which Kisame never saw him summon._

_As Kisame in his hybrid form swam close to Jiraya to finish him off, the toad hermit suddenly opened his eyes. Kisame could see a strange transformation on the Gamma sennin, his eyes looked weird and his nose was somehow bigger._

_Not wanting to wait, Kisame went to attack the still unmoving Toad sage. As he was close to his target, he was surprised when his fist was suddenly caught by his enemy. The strength displayed by the sennin was no laughing matter either, as he couldn't even remove his fist from Jiraya's solid grip._

_Then the strangest thing happened, Kisame felt a chakra_ source _ escaping from Jiraya and entering his own body, resulting from him merging with **Samehada**. _

_However, as he continued to absorb Jiraya's chakra, he started to feel weird. Then seconds later, his hand slowly turned into stone, his whole body soon following the same process. _

_The last thing Kisame saw was the grinning face of the Toad Sage and him calling his next jutsu, **"Senpo : Cho Oodama Rasengan !"** then all went black._

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><p><em><span>End of flashback<span>_

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><p>"And that's it, all I know is that he was somehow able to use a jutsu to transform my body into stone." Kisame said as he finished his report to the group.<p>

"I see, that's most troubling. Itachi finish your report, how did the jinchuriki defeat you ?" Ordered the apparent leader's voice.

Then Itachi did the same as Kisame and gave a summary of his fight against Naruto to the group.

"Well at least we know a bit more about him than what we could learn from Kisame about Jiraya. Uzumaki Naruto has very powerful genjutsu skills, on par or even better than the perception of the Sharingan. He uses a wind type sword and has reached the sennin level of the dragon clan." Analyzed the leader.

"Both of them are strong enough to easily defeat the underpowered shadows of Itachi and Kisame. We will not engage them again until we have more intelligence on either of them. However I have a plan to draw out more of the jinchuriki hidden skills, so we may know more about him the next time any of us has to face him."

"They're back, it seems they took care of the external seals too. Jiraya and the jinchuriki are coming too." Interrupted Zetsu.

"Damn we don't have enough time to complete the sealing, I don't want them to see the **Gedo Mazo**, we can't risk them destroying it. No choice, dispel the technique and sever your connection. Deidara and Sasori, try to take the Kazekage with you but escape without it if you can't." Ordered the leader.

Every figure stopped channeling chakra to the statue, with the jutsu incomplete the mass of chakra accumulated dispersed and went back to Gaara who screamed in pain. Then slowly, one by one the members disappeared into the shadows, leaving the two who were the only ones physically inside the cave. The statue also dispelled, leaving the body of the still unmoving but alive Gaara on the ground.

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><p><strong>Outside the Cave – 15 minutes ago<strong>

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><p>Kurenai, Chiyo, Sakura, Hinata and Kiba were in front of an enormous boulder blocking their path towards what looked like a huge cave.<p>

"Are you sure Gaara is inside Kiba?" Asked Kurenai.

"Yes sensei, I can smell his scent as well as the one from the Akatsuki member we were provided with by Kankuro just behind this stone wall." Replied the Inuzuka.

"He's right sensei, I can also see him with my doujutsu. It's really dark so I can't see who else is inside but he's the closest to the entrance. He's floating mid air and he seems in pain but alive." Reported Hinata with her doujutsu activated.

"Then let's go, I'm sure Akamaru and I can easily destroy that huge rock." Said Kiba preparing a jutsu with his dog.

"Wait, you won't break it so easily. There's a seal protecting it." Said Chiyo.

"What type of seal ?" Asked Kurenai.

"It's a **Gofu Kekkai**, in order to break it we need to destroy the four other seals placed all around the cave that protects it." Answered the old kunoichi.

Hinata gave them the location of the four the protection seals, then they all left to disable them except for Chiyo who stayed in front of the cave.

It took them fifteen minutes to get rid of all the seals then they all returned to the cave entrance.

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><p><strong>Present Time<strong>

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><p>As the scouting group made it back to the cave entrance, they met Naruto and Jiraya who also finished their opponents. They quickly explained the situation then prepared themselves to invade the cave.<p>

Naruto immediately activated the first level of his bloodline, the **Muga no Kyouchi**.

"_Na-chan are you sure you can still feel his chakra behind this rock ?"_ Naruto asked Natsuki, worried about Gaara.

"**Yes I can still feel the Ichibi, he seems extremely weak though. Whatever is inside this cave was strong enough to hurt him that much, be very careful Naru-kun."** Replied the vixen.

"_You know I'm never going to betray a promise I made, I'm not going to die here, there are still so many things left for me to do in this world."_ He replied.

"**Just be careful, and stay focused."** Natsuki said with worry in her voice for her chosen mate.

Naruto then activated his youki storage seal and felt his chakra reserve rise to their max again, finally he took out his katana.

Sakura was the one tasked to take out the giant rock, so she charged her jutsu and ran towards her target. **"Okasho !"** Yelled the kunoichi before her fist impacted the giant boulder. The effect was immediate as the rock was completely destroyed and collapsed.

Inside the cave laid the body of Gaara, in front of him were the two members of Akatsuki who attacked Suna. The smaller one was identified as Sasori since the tail of his puppet was clearly seen behind his back. The other one was identified by Jiraya who remembered him from the bingo book as Deidara the Mad Bomber, missing ninja of Iwa.

"Naruto will create an opening then Kurenai, Hinata and Kiba will escort the Kazekage back to Suna. Sakura and Chiyo-san will fight Sasori since she knows him best, being his grandmother and Sakura has a cure to his poison attacks. Finally, Naruto and I will deal with the blond one ." Ordered Jiraya as they all nodded and went their to execute their missions.

"**Futon : Kaze Shinsou !"** Naruto called before his wind spear suddenly extended and went right between Sasori and Deidara.

The two experienced shinobi were able to evade the slash but failed to stop Kurenai and her two students who immediately took the chance to get the body of Gaara from them. They could only curse as they saw the retreating forms of Team 8 minus Naruto taking off towards Suna with their target.

Naruto was relieved, Gaara was safe, he was able to save one of his brethren.

"Looks like we lost the target, uh." Said Deidara.

"Shut up, don't you see we got bigger problems right now ?" Growled Sasori as he not only saw the two men their leader told them to avoid at all cost, but Chiyo his grandmother and Puppet Mistress of Suna was also there.

"Well then, I'll see you later. **Katsu !**" Deidara suddenly said as he formed a Ram seal.

There was a sudden explosion inside the cave and taking advantage of the confusion, Daidara was able to escape from the cave, riding on top of a strange looking bird.

"That's our target Naruto !" Yelled Jiraya as the two also left the cave and ran after Deidara.

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><p><strong>With Chiyo and Sakura<strong>

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><p>"<em>Thanks to that idiot bomber, the chances of getting out of this mess alive just increased exponentially."<em> Thought Sasori looking at the two remaining people in front of him.

"I'm hurt, they think so little of me they would pit me against an old lady and a little girl." Taunted Sasori.

Both kunoichi stayed silent and prepared themselves to fight the puppet master of Akatsuki.

Sakura managed to surprise the puppeteer with her superior taijutsu and her strength, destroying his main puppet.

However he then summoned a legion of new puppets and she was quickly overwhelmed by their sheer number. Chiyo took charge and used chakra threads to take possession of Sakura's body like a puppet and then managed to pull through.

In the end, it came down to Chiyo summoning her own private elite army of puppets against the army of her grandson with Sakura giving the last blow.

With his last breath, Sasori told them a strange secret about an old partner of his inside Akatsuki and a meeting they scheduled in two weeks from now.

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><p><strong>With Jiraya and Naruto<strong>

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><p>Jiraya and Naruto were jumping from tree to tree following Deidara.<p>

"Damn he's getting further away, we won't be able to catch him at this rate." Said Jiraya.

Naruto suddenly stopped on a tree then went through hand signs for a jutsu **"Ninpo : Kuchiyose no jutsu !"**, then continued his pursuit on top of Hiryu his Fire Dragon.

The dragon was a lot more faster than whatever creature Daidara was riding on. Preparing for his next move, Naruto drew more chakra from the fox storage and conversion seal.

Naruto was soon in striking range and took position to use his technique.

"**Futon : Kamishini no Yari !"** He called as he was in the basic stance he used when prforming his Divine Wind Spear technique with his katana.

Deidara never saw it coming, the Akatsuki member felt a strong gush of wind to his left before a blinding pain took over and he finally saw he was missing his entire left arm. He was bleeding profusely and had trouble to keep the balance to stay on top of his creature.

To Jiraya, who was still following them on the ground, it was even more impressive. After seeing Naruto take off on top of his dragon, he saw his disciple position himself right behind the fugitive. There was a distance of several kilometers between them but Naruto still used his Wind Spear technique. The speed of the cut had to be very high, judging by the fact that Naruto's blade only blinked for a second before he saw the impact on Deidara's arm.

Seeing no possible escape from such a jutsu in his current condition and not wanting to take more risks, Daidara decided to try his chance on the ground inside the thick forest area below him. He took a rapid dive with his bird then dispelled it and tried to mask his presence inside the forest.

Naruto was flying in circles around the last seen position of Deidara and Jiraya soon joined him. With neither of them being good sensors nor trackers, Jiraya decided to go for the more direct approach and went through his own hand signs.

"Naruto get ready, I'll flush him out." Said Jiraya receiving a nod from his student.

"**Doton : Yomi Numa !"** He yelled as the ground began to sink in a very wide area.

Deidara cursed seeing the ground disappearing into the giant swamp but decided to stay a little longer inside the tall tree he was hiding in.

Seeing no result Jiraya then continue his plan, **"Ninpo : Kuchiyose no jutsu !"** he was now on top of Gamabunta the Toad Boss.

"Give me a large quantity of oil Bunta !" He said to his giant summon. Gamabunta patted his huge belly then did as ordered and spat a huge pressurized spray of oil in front of him.

"**Katon : Gamayu Endan !"** Roared Jiraya as the whole forest in front of him was mercilessly lit on fire.

Seeing the ground slowly disappearing and the fire rapidly eating away the tree from above, Deidara had no choice this time but to move out of his hiding place.

Unfortunately for him, the moment he left the tree, he experienced the same pain he felt earlier as Naruto used his Death Spear technique again, this time taking the right arm away.

Deidara managed to drag himself to a safe zone, out of Jiraya's swamp or fire jutsu. The moment of peace did not last however as he was join a second later by both Naruto and Jiraya.

Seeing his opponent's state, missing both arms, Naruto dispelled his dragon and made his way towards the Akatsuki member.

"Surrender it's over." Said Naruto with no emotion.

"You think it's over uh ?" Deidara said before adding "I'll show you my greatest creation and why art is a bang !".

The body of the Mad Bomber then began to rapidly shift, swelling from the inside. Jiraya's eyes widened, understanding what was happening. Then in a flash, everything went blank. Naruto only felt something wet coil around him before the sound of the explosion reached him.

After the explosion died down, Naruto found himself in a dark place. He tried to take a few steps and used his hands in front of him to guide him. The ground suddenly shifted and forcefully lifted him up then the place became less dark. Naruto's eyes widened as he understood where he was, as Gamabunta spat him out of his mouth.

An angered Naruto covered by toad spit slowly stood up before he heard the voice of his master.

"How many times did I tell you to never underestimate your opponent Naruto." Jiraya said seriously, though he had a smirk on his face.

Naruto snarled at his master but understood that he was just saved from certain death, "Thanks for the save Ero-sennin." he said.

"Alright, lets go back to the cave." Said Jiraya as they both went back.

On their way to the cave Jiraya saw Naruto smiling and asked him about it.

"I'm just happy for Gaara and I kept my promise to bring him back alive." Said the blond thinking about his brethren.

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><p><strong>AN: **What do you think ?

Gaara is both alive and still a jinchuriki. I'm not quite sure if they have to extract each of them in their tail order but in my version they don't.

I always wondered how Jiraya would go against Kisame, then the scene of Naruto force feeding his nature chakra to Pain in order to petrify him flashed in my mind, Kisame being a chakra leech too.

Next time, the end of this arc then who knows. Read the next chapter to know :)

Read and Review please.

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><p><strong>New jutsu :<strong>

**Futon : Kamishini no Yari** , translates as God Killing Spear. Upgraded version of Naruto's Divine Wind Spear. The reach and speed of this attack is enormous, a lot more chakra taxing though.


	23. Seals

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I've been getting less reviews lately even though the visitors and hits stats are still pretty high (around 5-6k a day), I hope you still enjoy the story. Every review is appreciated for a first time author like me so don't hesitate :)<p>

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 23: Seals<strong>

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><p><strong>Suna – Hospital<strong>

Today was a hot day again in Suna, nurses and doctors were running around the corridors of the hospital. The reason for this sudden rise in tension inside the building was simple; on the last floor, and heavily guarded, was the room of Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage.

It had been half a day since the rescue mission led by Konoha ended, fortunately in success. Team 8, under the command of jonin Yuhi Kurenai, was the first to return. Running across the desert with the Kazekage on top of a huge dog, and the three team members in a triangular formation around him.

They were immediately escorted to the hospital, emergency rooms had been made ready for any wounded that would need medical treatment. Fear, anxiety but also relief and joy could be read on the faces of the Suna shinobi as they saw their leader back and alive.

Gaara still suffered numerous wounds from his battle against the Akatsuki member who kidnapped him. Furthermore, he had a severe case of chakra exhaustion. In addition to all this, he also showed signs of malnutrition as he most likely did not have anything to eat or drink during his captivity.

Anyway, it was a miracle that those were the only things he had to deal with considering what he just went through. A good rest was everything he needed right now in order to get better.

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><p><strong>Village Gates<strong>

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><p>Security was still in a high alert state since the kidnapping happened even after the Kazekage was rescued. As a consequence, the number of gate guards and the patrols were doubled until further notice.<p>

Suna did not possess the same detection field field barrier that Konoha had. The village defense system consisted in its high and thick walls, with sentinels posted all over the perimeter at all time. It was now the end of the afternoon, the members for the night shift were about to take their post when a chunin saw some activity.

Slowly making their way back to the village, Naruto and the rest of the rescue mission members appeared at the horizon on top of a huge dragon. The creature landed near the village entrance and let its passengers off.

"Thanks for the lift Suzaku, I didn't have the courage nor the strength to cross the desert again after that fight." Said Naruto as he dismissed his Transport Dragon.

"**Anytime, Naruto-sama."** Replied the summon before dispelling itself.

"Welcome back." Baki said as he joined the guards at the gates.

"I trust that the other team safely came back with the Kazekage." Asked Jiraya.

"Yes, thank you so much for your assistance. Please follow me, I will guide you to him and your friends." Replied Baki.

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><p><strong>Hospital – Gaara's room<strong>

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><p>After letting Chiyo and Sakura examine Gaara to confirm that he was fine people made room for Jiraya and Naruto to check his jinchuriki seal.<p>

"What do you think Ero-sennin ?" Asked Naruto after they both took a look at the seal.

"Whatever they did to him in that cave has tampered with his old seal. Unless we do something about it, the bijuu will extend its domination over him even more when he wakes up." Replied Jiraya, receiving a nod from his blond disciple.

"_What do you think Na-chan ?"_ Naruto asked the vixen.

"**Ichibi was left mentally unstable after a fight he had with the Hachibi a long time ago. I'm not pleased at the prospect of silencing one of us permanently, but for the good of the host it is the best solution."** Replied Natsuki.

"I promised Gaara we would look at his seal and maybe find a way to make life easier for him. So instead of restoring it to its original state, I want to strengthen it." Naruto announced as the Suna shinobi in the room were speechless.

"You can really do that ? You would even upgrade his seal, Why ?" Asked Chiyo in a surprised and shameful tone, as she was the one who performed the original sealing ritual on Gaara.

"Yes I would. He is one of the few who knows what I've been through because he has practically lived the same life I did. Furthermore, he saved Konoha in the past when he told us about Orochimaru. That's the least we could do." Naruto said with conviction while the people in the room had different reactions to his speech.

The rookies from Konoha were all aware now of Naruto's burden, they however never thought that his life was so bad. Hinata and Kiba put their hands on Naruto's shoulders while Sakura looked down in shame, remembering all the things she said to him in their childhood.

"I can guarantee Naruto's skills in fuinjutsu, I taught him and he has Uzumaki blood running through his veins. I will let him perform the sealing and only supervise." Said Jiraya to support his student.

After getting the approval of Gaara's family, Naruto and Jiraya asked everyone to leave the room and started the preparations for the ritual. Chiyo was allowed to stay to make sure everything was in order since neither Jiraya nor Naruto were Suna shinobi.

One hour later, the three left the room and allowed family only to visit their Kazekage. Chiyo confirmed that everything went well. The seal was now operational and had been upgraded in order to completely cut off the influence of the Ichibi over Gaara. The Kazekage would now be able to enjoy as everyone else the pleasure of a good night of sleep.

The Konoha ninja decided they would stay for another week in Suna, in the event of unwanted after effects of the new seal on Gaara. They were escorted to a hotel by Baki and all went to sleep after that.

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><p><strong>River Country – Place of the Battle<strong>

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><p>The previously identified Akatsuki member Zetsu was going through the remains of the battle that took place earlier. He was with another unidentified person, wearing an odd orange mask, both were looking for something inside the cave where Sakura and Chiyo fought against Sasori.<p>

After some time they finally found what they were looking for. It was the ring that each Akatsuki members seemed to wear and they just found Sasori's.

When they made their way to the place where Deidara died, they easily found the detached arm of Deidara. They were about to take it off the ground when they were interrupted by Deidara himself. Apparently the jutsu he used to 'detonate' himself was just a decoy, he performed a substitution just before activating the suicide technique.

Taking back his arm, Deidara then left with the other two.

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><p><strong>Hotel – Naruto's Room<strong>

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><p>After a good night of sleep, Naruto felt rejuvenated. The events of yesterday were still fresh on his mind though, he knew that he was still too weak to take on Akatsuki alone.<p>

Itachi managed to surprise him inside his wind dome, then in the fight with Deidara, he would have died without the intervention of his sensei Jiraya.

There had to be more shinobi out there, of that level or even stronger, that were after Natsuki and that thought terrified him. He vowed to train harder and study more in order to achieve his goals.

Sensing Naruto's turmoil, Natsuki decided to speak.

"**I know you're worried about me Naru-kun but I don't want you to kill yourself over it."** Started the Vixen.

"You were there too yesterday. If I don't get stronger, they will take you away from me. I will not allow that." Replied Naruto.

"**How about your friends and sensei? What about your dreams of becoming Hokage ? You must think about them too before you rush into anything."** Asked Natsuki.

"I know they are strong but I can't let them risk their life each time Akatsuki is out for me." Naruto said.

"I'm not making enough progress with the seal, as of now I can only safely use five tails worth of your youki. Each time I activate the **Muga no Kyouchi**, it already saps one tail away. This only grants me access to one of the higher level of my bloodline after that, seeing as each upgrade uses four tails of power." Analyzed Naruto.

"I just can't understand why the converter seal won't absorb more." Finished Naruto.

"**The seal your father placed on you is powerful, maybe it was not made to be used that way or something else is blocking you."** Supplied Natsuki with her limited knowledge on the sealing arts.

"**The only ones who know more about the Shiki Fuujin are the Sandaime and Jiraya, maybe you should ask one of them about it."** She added after that.

"Jiji would never let me experiment on my father's seal and I'm not too sure about Ero-sennin. I guess I'll have to find a way to ask him more about it." Mused Naruto.

"That's also the only way to find a solution to get you out of there without killing me in the process too. I know we have lots of fun together inside and all but I want more for us, I want to hold you in my arms in the real world, like a real family." Naruto said with sadness in his voice.

Natsuki knew that family was a sensible subject for Naruto. She never bothered with human emotions before she was sealed inside him. Even inside her two previous host, their interactions were minimal. She never developed the feelings of love nor loneliness before she was placed inside Naruto, all thanks to the particular seal that currently caused them so much troubles.

"**You don't need to rush it Naru-kun, your enemies won't be so hasty to attack now that they lost two of their members."** Natsuki finally said.

"I guess you're right. We'll talk more later Na-chan, I have to go see how Gaara is doing." Said Naruto as he went to prepare himself for the day.

* * *

><p><strong>Hospital – Gaara's Room<strong>

* * *

><p>As Naruto was granted access to Gaara's room, he saw that the Kazekage had no visitor currently. It was still early in the morning so he guessed everyone was still sleeping. He went to inspect the modifications he made to Gaara's seal, nothing seemed out of place.<p>

Seeing the Kazekage still asleep, he was about to leave the room when he felt a sudden spike of chakra. Looking back he saw the read head slowly opening his eyes and moving in his bed.

"Hey Gaara, how are you doing ?" Asked Naruto.

"Naruto ? What's going on ? I was … I don't remember ..." Were the confused questions of Gaara.

"Slow down a little, you're safe now. I'll tell you everything ..." Naruto replied calmly.

Then Naruto told him everything, from the moment they left Konoha with his sister five days ago to when he repaired and fortified his jinchuriki seal yesterday during the night.

Gaara was stunned to learn about everything that happened after his kidnapping. Then he suddenly got up and looked around the room.

"Is everything alright ?" Asked a worried Naruto at the sudden reaction.

"I can't hear it, the voice, it stopped. It finally stopped, never a day in my life did I not lay awake at night, as I was forced to listen to that voice. And now it's gone ..." Gaara said.

"It's a good thing … right ?" Asked Naruto.

"I will never be able to repay you and your people for your kindness. Ask for anything and if it is within my power, I will see it done." Gaara replied with a serious tone.

"I'll settle down for a simple IOU from the Kazekage, I may need it one day when I become the Hokage." Naruto said smiling.

Gaara simply nodded, he knew the blond would not accept anything.

Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a doctor, coming in for Gaara's checkup.

Naruto then left the room to let the medical staff do its job.

* * *

><p><strong>Suna – Village Gates<strong>

* * *

><p>The week passed quite quickly, no visible signs of malfunction from the new seal were found. Gaara left the hospital one day after waking up, though he still stayed in his mansion during that time, letting Temari run the village for him.<p>

It was finally time for the Konoha group to go home, everyone was ready.

A large number of ninja and civilians were at the gates to say goodbye to them, among them were Gaara, Temari and Kankuro of course.

After an awkward goodbye and handshake between Naruto and Gaara where the red head gave the blond a piece of paper with the letters I O U on it, the Konoha ninja finally departed.

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

* * *

><p>Tsunade was enjoying a calm afternoon in her office, no paperwork and no council meeting scheduled for today.<p>

Everything was good, she received a message from Suna a week ago, relaying the news of success from the team she sent there to rescue the Kazekage. She was relieved to learn that their side suffered no casualties while two Akatsuki members were taken down.

Suddenly the door to her office opened, Shizune running in with a worried expression on her face. She was panting and had to take some time to catch her breath.

"What the hell is going Shizune ?" Asked Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama, it's terrible, you have to take a look at this !" Replied her assistant holding a peculiar handbook.

Tsunade's eyes then focused on the book and she saw it was a bingo book.

"What's so important about the bingo book Shizune ?" Asked the blonde.

"It's about Naruto-kun, look at his profile !" Shizune almost yelled.

Tsunade opened the book and went to see Naruto's profile, she remembered him being on the watch list of the A rank section. Her eyes frowned for a second when she didn't find it.

"What's the meaning of this ? I don't see it, why did they suddenly remove his profile ?" Asked a curious Tsunade.

"They didn't … Please look at the next section of the book." Replied the brunette.

Tsunade's eyes widened, understanding what her disciple just said and then opened the book again. She dropped it seconds later, having finally found what caused Shizune to panic like that. The book was still opened at the right page on her desk, it read:

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Nickname : **Konoha's Kaze No Kami

**Age : **16

**Rank : **S

**Status : **Jonin

**Attributes: **Kenjutsu(S), Ninjutsu(A), Genjutsu(S) and Fuinjutsu(B)

**Affinities : **Wind

**Bloodline : **Unknown

**Description : **Has a very high affinity to the Wind element

Sage of the mythical Dragon summoning contract

Casts unbreakable genjutsu

**Defeated** A-Rank Kiri Nukenin Momochi Zabuza the Kirigakure No Kijin as a genin

**Defeated** Sabaku no Gaara the Suna's Ichibi Jinchuriki as a genin

**Defeated** S-Rank Konoha Nukenin Uchiha Itachi the Sharingan Prodigy

**Defeated** S-Rank Iwa Nukenin Deidara the Mad Bomber

**Action : **Kill on sight

**Bounty :** 100,000,000 Ryo in Iwa, Ame and Kiri

"Impossible ! How did it spread so fast ?" Said a shocked Tsunade. Her precious day of peace had just ended.

* * *

><p><strong>Unknown Place<strong>

* * *

><p>In a dark place stood two shadows, talking to each other.<p>

"The book is out, it has been done as you asked Leader-sama." Said the first.

"Very well Zetsu." Replied the Leader.

"Why did you leak those information about the Kyuubi ?" Asked Zetsu.

"This way and with such a bounty on his head, hunters are bound to try to take him down." Replied the Leader.

"And why is it good for us ? I thought we wanted them alive ?" Said Zetsu.

"It is good because we know none of them will succeed. If he is strong enough to take down S-Ranks members like Itachi or Deidara, then he won't die so easily. Even if we both know that he didn't actually killed those two. Then the next time we see him, he would have already revealed a lot more of what he can do. Information is often the key to success." Explained the Leader.

"I understand now, so that's what you had in store for him ..." Said Zetsu as they both disappeared in the darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So what do you think ?

Gave out a little more info about Naruto's project and his current level in Youki manipulation. I have a plan on how he will free Natsuki from the seal but it's not for now.

He still didn't reveal his second ultimate form.

On the bingo book thing, I'm still on the international setup for it since I'm not sure if each village has their own version or if it's actually shared.

Wanted a good reason to update Naruto's profile so there you go …

I'm open to any suggestions or criticism about his profile, I think my version of the current Naruto deserves a cool S-Rank.

If anyone could confirm Zabuza being a A-Rank though that would be great.

Not sure when next release will be, tomorrow is Christmas eve after all :)

Anyway as usual please Read & Review.

Merry X-Mas to those of you of celebrate it like me :)


	24. Homecoming

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>It's great that many of you replied to my question about Zabuza, confirming that he is indeed an A class missing ninja. No one was really shocked about Naruto's new updated stats either. I'm still going with the One piece Bounty System pricing since I have no idea what they charge for missing ninja in the Naruto universe.<p>

Hope you all had a nice Christmas day for those who celebrate it.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 24: Homecoming<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha – Main Gates<strong>

It took Naruto's group three days to reach Konoha from the moment they left Suna. They did not meet any difficulties during their trip back, deciding to only take minimal short breaks, since all were eager to get home.

They were greeted by the eternal chunin combo at their arrival, namely Kotetsu and Izumo. Upon verification that everything was in order, they were told that Tsunade was waiting for them in her office immediately.

Jiraya felt that something wrong must have happened. He had made sure to send Tsunade a preliminary report on their mission as soon as they brought Gaara back to his village. Therefore, having Tsunade impatiently waiting for them could only mean one thing, something important must have happened after he sent her the first report.

The group lost no more time than needed and all used **Shunshin** to reach the Hokage Tower.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

* * *

><p>Tsunade was going through paperwork since this morning. It helped her to focus on something else than her last relative's situation. To her, Naruto was still going back from his mission to Suna but he didn't knew about the last developments on his profile in the bingo book. She feared that with such a high bounty on his head, the most skilled hunter nins would try to get him before she had the chance to warn him. They were already well on their way back to the Leaf when she received the news.<p>

Naruto's group arrived in front of Tsunade's office. Shizune stood up from her desk then let them in immediately, knowing how anxious her master had been about this whole thing. Opening the door, Naruto and Jiraya were prepared to see a sleeping Tsunade with some opened bottles of Sake. They were surprised however to see her working and sober.

"Naruto ! You're finally back, I was so worried, you idiot !" Yelled the blonde Hokage as she jumped up from her seat, not even noticing the other people inside her office.

"We're fine too Hime." Said a smirking Jiraya as Tsunade finally composed herself.

She cleared her throat, then calmly sat down.

"Good work everyone, I will take the time to read all your reports once you submit them. Now you're all dismissed except for Naruto and Jiraya." Announced Tsunade.

Kurenai, Hinata, Sakura and Kiba bowed their head to their leader, nodded to Naruto and Jiraya, then all left to go back to their respective homes. Tsunade, Jiraya, Shizune and Naruto were the only people left in the Hokage office. Tsunade quickly sealed the room then looked at Naruto.

"What's going on Tsunade ?" Asked a curious Jiraya.

"Show them the book, Shizune." Said Tsunade as her disciple took a book on her desk and put it in front of them.

"What's with the bingo book ? I already know that I have an entry in it, apparently Iwa is still mad at us, about the ass whopping my father gave them in the last great ninja war." Naruto said, recognizing the book in front of him.

Putting two and two together, Jiraya understood why Tsunade looked so worried and decided to see for himself. He opened the book to the A-Ranked shinobi section, frowned, then continued to the next section. Once he found his student's profile, he slowly put the book back in front of Naruto.

"Look again Naruto, they updated your profile with the latest data." Jiraya said with a heavy sigh.

Naruto did as instructed, his eyes widened when he saw his updated file. It had almost everything right about his current skills. However, the most important part was his new ranking status. He was now considered as a S-Rank shinobi, furthermore not only Iwa but also Ame and Kiri wanted him dead now.

"How is that even possible ? There are things mentioned in my file, that happened not even a week ago." Asked a worried and confused Naruto.

"I was wondering about the same thing, actually." Added Tsunade.

"It's quite simple really, if you take the time to think about it." Said Jiraya.

"How is that so, Ero-sennin ?" Asked Naruto nervously, not understanding what his master what talking about.

"The only people who knew about those events besides us are Suna and Akatsuki." Replied Jiraya.

"Suna wouldn't leak out info on one me, I'm pretty sure Gaara would see to that." Said Naruto with conviction, believing that his fellow jinchuriki friend would never betray him.

"Then, that only leave on possibility, Akatsuki did it. Why would they broadcast their loss to us and therefore increase the competition in getting Naruto-kun though ?" This came from Shizune this time.

"Information gathering … they want to force our hand, or more precisely, Naruto's." Said Tsunade finally getting it.

"Exactly. The more high level enemies Naruto has to fight, the more data about him will be revealed to them. They have the confidence that Naruto won't die. It's probably because he already beat some of them." Confirmed the Spy Master of Konoha.

"What will I do now ? I was never a popular guy in Konoha you know. With such a bounty even I would be tempted to sell myself to one of those villages that want my head." Said a dejected Naruto.

"I think I have a solution for you, leave it to me. Just be here in one hour, I will call for an emergency council meeting. This will probably solve your problem inside Konoha." Tsunade said, getting a nod from the younger blond.

"There's one thing I don't get though, I can understand for Iwa but why do Kiri and Ame want my head too ?" Mused Naruto out loud.

"Ame has always been at odds with us Naruto. It was their leader, Hanzo the Salamander, that gave us the tittle of sannin when we fought against him in the last great ninja war. We don't know much about that country, even today, so it wouldn't surprise me that they still resent us. Taking out one of our most promising shinobi must be their goal." Said Jiraya.

"Kiri is a little different though, it's not really Konoha they fear but you, or more specifically your name. The Uzumaki clan, as you know, is in fact from Uzushiogakure. Kiri was one of the countries that plotted the destruction of the land of our ancestors, Naruto. My grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, used to tell me stories of her homeland. The fuinjutsu of the Uzumaki clan were greatly feared, especially by their close neighbor Kiri." Supplied Tsunade.

"I see, for the time being it would be best for me to avoid those countries, at least until we get more information about them." Naruto said getting nods from both Jiraya and Tsunade.

"I'll see what I can do with my spy network, we need to gather more accurate info on them. Kiri is supposedly in a civil war between the bloodlines holders side and the Mizukage faction led by Yagura. However, Ame is a very secretive country, I may have to infiltrate it myself." Said Jiraya.

"Now listen to what I have in mind for the council meeting later today ..." Tsunade explained her plan to Naruto.

She then dispelled her room sealing jutsu and called an ANBU team to go gather every member for the upcoming council meeting.

* * *

><p><strong>Council Meeting Room<strong>

* * *

><p>Every member of the Council was present in the meeting room. As usual the room was divided in three sides. The shinobi, elder and civilian sides were all seated in their designated area. Tsunade was in her Hokage seat higher than everyone else, with Shizune standing right behind her. Naruto stood outside the room with Jiraya at his side. The ANBU guarding the room closed the doors, signaling the start of the meeting.<p>

"Before we start, I will establish some special rules for this meeting." Announced Tsunade.

"Sensitive information will be disclosed during this meeting. None of you will interrupt me until you are given the right to speak. Should any of you disregard this simple rule, you will be removed from the room for the remaining of the meeting, regardless of your clan or status. Is that clear ?" Tsunade said, daring anyone to protest against her rule.

The room stayed silent, people knew that Tsunade had quite a temper, and unlike Sarutobi she would not hesitate to go through with her threats.

"Very well, the meeting shall start then. We are gathered in this room today to discuss the status of one of Konoha's most powerful clan, the Namikaze." Declared Tsunade.

"The Namikaze were one of the first shinobi families to have joined Konoha after its founding. They produced many powerful shinobi and kunoichi in the past, our late Yondaime Hokage being the most striking example. However, during the last great war, they lost all of their members except for the one who put an end to the war itself, Namikaze Minato." She reminded everyone.

"Now, with no official successor and as a standard procedure, all the funds and possessions of the Namikaze family have been frozen for the last sixteen years. According to the law, if no official successor has claimed this inheritance before eighteen years have passed, then the Hokage has the authority to seize it and everything become the village's property." Continued the Hokage.

"We are here to discuss about this inheritance before the deadline is over." Finished Tsunade before nodding to Danzo who stood up from his seat on the civilian side.

"I think it should be equally distributed among the civilian side ..." Started the old manipulator before Tsunade cut him.

"It won't be necessary, the ninja clans can also forget about the Namikaze scrolls that were sealed in the Hokage vault." Tsunade said.

"What gives you the authority to decide such things, Tsunade ? Last time I checked, even the Hokage wasn't above the laws that were signed by both the Shodaime and the Fire Lord." Replied the old war hawk, with blatant disrespect in his tone and a smug look on his face.

"_The old fool is at it again, she may have fired Homura and Koharu but Danzo managed to stay by the civilian side. Let's see how she deals with him."_ Thought Sarutobi as he looked at his student.

"You can cut the crap with your empty threats and even then the Fire Lord won't be of any use to you in this case. A Namikaze heir has been identified, now sit down if you don't have anything else relevant to say." Tsunade said as she sent him a glare, defying him to protest.

Danzo smartly sat down, without showing any expression on his face. However inside he was fuming with rage, he had planned for a long time to secretly seize the Namikaze inheritance for himself, hoping that everyone would forget about it.

Hyuga Hiashi stood up and Tsunade gave him a nod.

"Could you tell us more about this successor you've identified for the Namikaze clan, Hokage-sama ?" Asked Hiashi.

"Of course, that's the reason I called this meeting anyway. The Namikaze heir has been among us since the beginning actually, he is of course one of our most powerful shinobi and has the rank of jonin." Tsunade replied with a smirk.

"He has been summoned today in order for you all to meet him, he is behind those doors right now as we are speaking." Tsunade added before giving a nod to the ANBU guarding the doors.

As the doors opened, two sets of footsteps could be heard from the people in the meeting room. As the two mysterious shinobi finally reached the meeting room, people's eyes widened, realizing who they were.

Naruto sat in the middle of the room, Jiraya chose to stay behind him.

"Impossible ! It can't be ! There is no way that demo..." Started one of the civilian council member before his head exploded in a shower of blood, his headless corps falling to the ground.

"Until proven otherwise, the law about my jinchuriki status is still in effect. It is perfectly within my right to punish anyone who doesn't follow that law." Announced Naruto as he put his sword away.

"Do you have any proof that this … boy is the Namikaze heir, Tsunade ?" Said Danzo as he didn't even wait for Tsunade to give him the authorization to speak.

"She does, and you better know your place when addressing her _civilian_." Started Naruto, putting a big emphasis on the last word, as he flicked his sword his his hand.

"You will address her as Hokage-sama during the meeting or I will remove you myself from the room for insubordination." Naruto continued.

Danzo had no choice but to stand down after apologizing to Tsunade, knowing full well that Tsunade was in her right to remove him from the room, if she wanted to. This made every member of the shinobi council smirk, as well as Tsunade, Sarutobi and Jiraya.

"As I was about to say, I have here Naruto's birth certificate, his blood test exam and finally, Sarutobi-sensei here can also testify that Naruto is indeed who I say he is." Tsunade said getting a nod from her old teacher.

"Naruto-kun was supposed to know about his lineage when he reached the age of eighteen or the rank of jonin. Minato also wished for him to live his life without having to fear the scorn of Iwa or any of the other numerous enemies he made during his shinobi career, be it outside the village or not." Sarutobi supplied, giving a glare to his old rival Danzo.

He then turned to Naruto, took a scroll out of his robe and then gave it to Naruto. However, before he did, everyone could see that the scroll indeed had the famous seal of the Yondaime Hokage.

"This, Naruto, is your father's will. It is protected by a blood seal that your father placed in order for it to not fall into the wrong hands. Only someone carrying his blood can open it." Sarutobi said as he handed him the scroll.

Biting his thumb, Naruto spread some of his blood over the seal that glowed for a second before disappearing. Naruto then read the letter, tears forming in his eyes then gave it back to Sarutobi. Scanning quickly its content, Sarutobi in turn decided to read the letter, out loud this time for everyone.

In the letter, Minato gave everything to his son Naruto, family funds, bank accounts, lands and the compound. It confirmed the previous statements, Naruto would get all of this once he becomes a jonin or at age eighteen. Sarutobi then handed the letter to Tsunade.

"Very well, I, Senju Tsunade hereby validate the content of this will. With my power as Hokage of Konoha, I am pleased to announce the homecoming of the Namikaze Clan back in our village and the nomination of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze as its clan head." Tsunade announced.

No one dared to protest against the ascension of Naruto to the clan head position. There were solid and material proofs that he was indeed the son of Namikaze Minato. The meeting soon ended after that.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto and Tsunade were back at her office, Jiraya said he was going to start information gathering then left abruptly and finally Shizune went to take her shift at the hospital.<p>

"So now that you are officially the new clan head of the Namikaze clan, we can safely assume that attacking you inside the village will become much more difficult. The Namikaze compound is heavily protected with seals so you should be safe inside its walls." Said Tsunade.

"Alright, thanks Ba-chan ! That solves my problem inside Konoha." Said Naruto with a smile.

"What happened to Hokage-sama and respect, you damn brat ?" Replied Tsunade.

"You know I'll never disrespect you in an official meeting, nevertheless, you just officially acknowledge me as you distant relative during that meeting, so it is also within my right to call you by that name you know." Naruto smirked as he told her.

* * *

><p><strong>Rice Country – Unknown Location<strong>

* * *

><p>In a dark place, Orochimaru and Kabuto were discovering the newly edited version of the international bingo book. They were interrupted by the arrival of a third person.<p>

Uchiha Sasuke joined them and Orochimaru tossed him the book. His Sharingan flared in anger as he read the profile of Naruto in the book, the line about Naruto defeating his brother Itachi, made his blood boil. He dropped the book to the ground and was about to leave the room when Orochimaru called him.

"Where do you think you are going like that Sasuke-kun ?" Asked the snake.

"I'm going to teach that fool a lesson !" Roared the avenger.

"Everything in good time, Kabuto is going to meet someone in a very powerful organization next week. Their goal is to capture every jinchuriki as Naruto-kun, and your brother was one of their member. We may learn more information about all this, you want to tag along ?" Orochimaru baited him, knowing very well that anything related to Itachi could be used to influence the fool in front of him.

"Very well, I'll see that contact of yours Kabuto. He will reveal his information about Naruto to me or I'll kill him too." Said the avenger as he deactivated his doujutsu and slowly left the room.

"_Kukuku, soon, very soon I will get what I want."_ Mused Orochimaru.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **Some aftermath about the new bingo book status and tying some loose end about Naruto's inheritance.

I know, no fight scene, no romance during this chapter but the next arc is indeed the mission to meet Orochimaru disguised as Sasori.

Some important point in this chapter, I'm not sure but I think the whole CRA thing is purely a fictional invention and has never been mentioned in the real manga. So I made the choice to not deal with it and consider that it doesn't exist.

Tell me if I'm wrong or if I forgot something or contradict myself somewhere in this chapter.

As usual Read & Review please.


	25. Snake Hidden in the Grass

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

* * *

><p>First, to answer a review, Tsunade's plan to reveal Naruto's lineage to the council served the purpose of getting him a safe heaven inside the village, the Namikaze compound. While he's awake, he fears almost no one inside Konoha, now he doesn't need to worry when he's asleep either. If no one could infiltrate the house in the last sixteen years, then it's safe to say he doesn't need to fear sneak attacks on him while he's resting inside his manor.<p>

Furthermore, getting his inheritance is an important step in his different quests, you will understand why in this chapter.

On another note, I am pleased to announce that the story just went over the 100,000 hits bar, all that in 25 days. That's a solid 4,000 hits a day, you guys are awesome, please continue to read and review to let me know what you like or what you dislike.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25: Snake hidden in the Grass<strong>

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><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

Naruto was inside his family house, he was remembering the events from yesterday that led him here, the council meeting and then unlocking his parents house.

He had sent clones to explore in order to get a basic layout of the entire place, the house was huge. He easily found the master bedroom, with his parents stuff still inside but decided to not touch anything and chose another room to use for himself. There was another room that got him interested, the library. That's where he was right now.

The library room was also protected by blood seals, for inside was all his father's research and theories on every jutsu he ever made or planned to create. He also found his mother's notes about the Uzumaki female ability to control bijuu, using chakra chains. He frowned at the thought of someone trying to restrain Natsuki using chains, even if it was his mother. Natsuki reassured him by saying that the context was different and that she too, was different at the time.

He found the notes on the **Rasengan** and the **Hiraishin**, but decided to put them aside for the moment. He already knew the **Rasengan** inside out and, of course, he also knew that the **Hiraishin** was a formidable jutsu, a space time technique allowing his father to travel distances instantly. There was however something else he wanted to know more about, the **Shiki Fuujin**.

The room was really big, he was starting to wonder if his father left anything about it. While searching, he found the notes on the seal system protecting the house, how to add or remove any blood signature he wanted on the list of the authorized people to come inside.

Suddenly, he heard the bell from his gates. Looking through the window, he saw an ANBU waiting for him at the limit of his compound. This was something new for him, he was used to them using **Shunshin** and appearing out of nowhere inside his old apartment. Of course, the seal protecting the perimeter of his home prevented such intrusion from now on. Cursing in his head that he did not find the notes on the **Shiki Fuujin**, he then left the library room after sealing it again and made his way to the gates.

"Namikaze-sama, Hokage-sama requires your presence in her office immediately." Reported the ANBU kneeling in front of him as they met at the gates.

He figured he would have to get used to being treated with such reverence, not enjoying people kneeling in front of him.

"Very well, I'll go see what she wants." Replied Naruto. His task done the ANBU left.

Naruto made sure to lock his compound then used **Shunshin** to get to the Hokage tower.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

* * *

><p>Upon arriving in Tsunade's office, Naruto saw that Jiraya and Sakura were also there.<p>

"What did I miss Ba-chan ?" He asked.

"Sakura, tell him what you know." Tsunade said to her apprentice.

Sakura told them about the end of her fight against Sasori, during the rescue mission in River Country. Apparently, Sasori was supposed to meet a spy he had in Orochimaru's ranks in three days from now on. The meeting is scheduled to take place near Kusagakure, on the Bridge of Heaven and Earth.

"We also confirmed with Suna that Sasori is most likely using a mind control jutsu to activate dormant agents he places in enemies camps. The victim is not aware of its conditioning and Sasori can activate his jutsu any time he wishes as long as he is in range. That's how they bypassed Suna's defenses so easily, the captain guarding the gate was his sleeping agent and also the man you killed that looked like Itachi." Added Jiraya.

"I assume from my presence that you want me to take part in this mission ?" Asked Naruto, looking at Tsunade. He was very reluctant to stop his search for clues on the **Shiki Fuujin**, not that he could admit it to Tsunade or Jiraya.

"Yes, I want you in for that mission. The objective is to collect any relevant information you can on Orochimaru, especially what he's been up to during the last three years. Someone will have to take the place of Sasori, be it you or not, your unique genjutsu skills will come in handy for that task. Jiraya will lead the mission so I'll leave the strategy to him and Sakura will be the support medic, just like she was for the last mission in Suna." Tsunade explained.

"I don't know, I was actually in the the middle something ..." Replied Naruto but he stopped talking when Sakura moved in front of him.

"Please Naruto, I know you don't owe me or Team 7 anything but I beg you. Please help us." She pleaded. Tsunade decided to intervene when she saw her disciple's state.

"That wasn't an invitation Naruto. You are a jonin now, you don't have the luxury to chose which mission you will or will not take anymore. You are leaving in one hour, go home and pack, you are dismissed." Announced Tsunade.

"Very well, _Hokage-sama_." Naruto said as he made his way out of Tsunade's office. The tone he used to call her tittle clearly signaling that he wasn't happy with the way she just forced his hand.

"One last thing though, if we meet the Uchiha traitor on our way, don't expect me to go easy on him. I am NOT a lackey of the Council, the Uchiha blood doesn't represent much to me, quite the opposite actually. Should he get on the way of our mission, I will put him down." Naruto said as he finally left.

Sakura left too after some time to recompose herself.

Tsunade and Jiraya were stunned at the scene that just played out before their eyes. Tsunade remained silent while Jiraya just closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

"What's up with him ? Why was he so aggressive all of a sudden ?" Asked Tsunade.

"I don't know, the last time I saw him like that was in the second year of the training trip. We were working on advanced level fuinjutsu formula and he was still trying to develop the seal he now has on his heart. He was really annoyed by his lack of progress and used to snap a lot." Replied Jiraya.

"Jiraya ..." Tsunade started.

"Don't worry, I'll bring them both back." Jiraya said.

* * *

><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto was currently packing for his upcoming mission, still angered at his last conversation with Tsunade.<p>

"**Calm down Naru-kun, don't let your anger control you."** Said Natsuki.

"I know, it's just that I'm so close to find some clues on how to free you." Replied the blond.

"**You can always do that after you're back, I'm not going anywhere, nor is this house."** Natsuki said in a reassuring tone.

"I guess you're right, but I can't believe I have to go just so they can get clues on how their precious Uchiha is doing. After what they've done to you, I won't take any risk with the Emo king if we meet him." Replied Naruto.

"**Alright, I also hate the Uchiha but you still have to be careful and remain in control."** Natsuki insisted in a worried tone.

"Fine, I promise I'll be careful. We'll talk later Na-chan, it's time I leave for that damn mission." Naruto said as he cut their link and left his compound.

* * *

><p><strong>Kusagakure – Two days later<strong>

* * *

><p>The group arrived in Kusagakure in two days time and decided to prepare for the meeting. They went on a recon mission to the place where the meeting is supposed to take place, The Bridge of Heaven and Earth.<p>

Jiraya decided that Naruto would play the role of Sasori, Sakura and the hermit would take cover and give assistance if needed. Consequently, Naruto trained for the remaining time to act like Sasori with the help of Sakura. He would use his ultimate genjutsu **Maboroshi no Sekai** to cover his appearance and voice and then extract anything he can from the spy.

The day of the meeting finally came and the group was in position.

* * *

><p><strong>Bridge of Heaven and Earth<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto posing as Sasori was standing alone in the middle of the bridge. Jiraya and Sakura were hiding in the forest behind him. They did not have to wait too long as a shadow soon appeared in front of Naruto.<p>

"It's good to see you again, Sasori-sama." Said the shadowed figure wearing a dark robe with a hood hiding its face.

As the shadow finally took the hood off, everyone was surprised. The spy was Kabuto, Orochimaru's most trusted subordinate.

"How are you feeling ?" Asked Naruto.

"My mind is still a bit clouded from when you released your jutsu, it took me some time to remember who I was." Replied the now identified Kabuto.

"We don't have much time, if Orochimaru realizes my absence, I'm as good as dead." Added Kabuto.

"Tell me everything you know about the hideouts and Uchiha Sasuke." Asked Naruto.

Kabuto told him about some of the secret bases and that Orochimaru never stayed in the same hideout for long. He also said that he was currently in a base not too far from there, and that Sasuke was with him too.

Kabuto then started to ask some tricky questions, questions which answers only the true Sasori would know. Seeing his mission done and the enemy soon discovering his identity, Naruto prepared himself to take down Kabuto. Before he could act, out of nowhere appeared two more figures, much more interesting ones actually.

Before Naruto, on the other side of the bridge now stood Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura's heartbeat accelerated when she saw her childhood crush after three long years, she was about to charge in when Jiraya stopped her.

"What's the meaning of this Kabuto ?" Asked Orochimaru with a smirk on his face.

"So that's Akatsuki uh ? He doesn't really look that strong to me." Bragged Sasuke.

Kabuto instantly turned back and stood next to the fake Sasori in a guarding position, ready to face the snake sannin and his new disciple.

"You were followed Kabuto ..." Naruto said still playing his role.

He was surprised though when a smirking Kabuto suddenly lashed at him and tried to take him out with a chakra scalpel jutsu. Both Orochimaru and Sasuke also smirked when they saw Kabuto's scalpel go through the fake Sasori Akatsuki's robe, most likely aiming for his heart.

However, their eyes widened when they saw the body of Sasori slowly fading away after being hit by Kabuto.

"_That was genjutsu !"_ The same thought went through the minds of the three Oto members.

"Things are finally getting interesting, not going to flee today I hope Orochi-chan ?" Asked a voice in a mocking tone.

Orochimaru frowned when he heard the voice, he was sure he already heard it from somewhere but couldn't place it. After some time, his eyes widened as he finally realized who they were facing.

"Show yourself Demon brat !" Spat the snake sannin.

"So you did remember me after all, I'm moved." Said Naruto as he slowly appeared on the other side of the bridge. He was already in his first stance, the **Muga no Kyouchi** with his vest off and his tattoo already missing the original circle around the three comma.

"Naruto !" Growled Sasuke as he saw the 'murderer' of his brother.

"So that's Konoha's Kaze no Kami. I have to admit I'm impressed, you have accomplished quite a lot since the last time we met Naruto-kun. It seems the rumors about you taking out all those S-Rank shinobi are true since you're here instead of Sasori." Orochimaru said as Kabuto jumped back and took position beside the snake sannin.

"You're still the same creepy snake you were the last time we met too, though I learned you tried to kill Itachi too in the past. Are you sure you really tried hard enough ? It wasn't really difficult for me." Naruto replied with a grin on his face.

Not being able to contain himself any longer, Sasuke launched himself at Naruto with his Sharingan flaring in anger. Orochimaru gave a nod to Kabuto, signaling him to make sure his precious future container would not be accidentally damaged.

Naruto's eyes never left Orochimaru and did not even pay attention to the incoming forms of Sasuke and Kabuto.

As they were about to reach the blond, out of nowhere Sakura appeared in front of Kabuto and used a super punch to send him flying aside. The ground below Sasuke started to shake and the avenger felt himself being dragged into the ground, courtesy of Jiraya also appearing at Naruto's side.

Orochimaru was distracted for second when he saw his old teammate popping out of thin air, that's the time it took for Naruto to cross the bridge and deliver a powerful punch into the snake's jaw. The result was Orochimaru flying backwards for at least a hundred meters.

"I'll deal with the snake, those two are yours ..." Said Naruto before powering up a standard **Rasengan** and completely annihilating the bridge with it afterward.

"Naruto wait !" Jiraya tried to stop his disciple but it was in vain as Naruto was already gone.

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto and Orochimaru<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto appeared in front of Orochimaru who stood back up very slowly. The face of the sannin was showing a weird scar from Naruto's punch. It was as if it was peeling away, revealing the face of someone completely new under it. However Naruto saw a few photo of the sannin in the past and knew what the real Orochimaru looked like.<p>

"Who the hell are you ?" Asked the blond.

"Kukuku, I am the real Orochimaru, you are just looking at my current container." Replied the snake.

"So that's the jutsu you were developing that earned you the 'Get out of Konoha' card from Jiji." Analyzed Naruto out loud.

"Very perceptive, that's indeed my immortality jutsu." Bragged Orochimaru before he replaced his fake visage back and charged at Naruto.

They then engaged in a taijutsu exchange, gauging each other levels.

Naruto thought that Orochimaru was not as powerful as Gai but fast enough to attack and evade him in his original released form. He also recognized the snake taijutsu style that Anko showed him during their spars, that helped him to keep up with the sennin.

"You are quite good Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun actually needs to activate his Sharingan with the three tomoe in order to match me in taijutsu." Said Orochimaru while trying to catch his breath.

"I see, how about we kick it up a notch then ?" Naruto said as he took a step back.

He took out his katana in his right hand and lightly cut his thumb with it. He then applied some blood on his fox tattoo and moved his katana back in its sheath.

He did the single hand sign and then called his jutsu, **"Futon : Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami !" **he said as the wind around him violently picked up and a comma disappeared from the tattoo on his heart. With that Naruto charged at Orochimaru again.

This time, Orochimaru was completely dominated. Naruto appeared to be much faster and stronger than before. The snake noticed that every part of his body felt heavier, even breathing was becoming a difficulty.

"What did you do to me ?" Snarled the sannin before going through hand signs.

"**Katon : Ryuka no jutsu !"** Yelled Orochimaru.

A dragon of fire was launched at Naruto. As it was about to reach him, it strangely went around its target, turned back and then raced towards Orochimaru with twice the speed and power it originally had.

Orochimaru narrowly escaped the giant fire dragon by jumping at the last moment, as he landed he found himself really tired again.

"You're starting to feel it uh, and did you really expect me to answer you ?" Replied Naruto as he continued his assault.

Orochimaru was starting to take more and more hits while Naruto did not even look tired. Naruto managed to catch him off guard again then hit him with a devastating taijutsu combo, leaving the broken body of the snake sannin on the ground.

As he went to finish him, Naruto saw the mouth of his enemy suddenly opening wide. In front of him, the broken corps of Orochimaru 'spat' another 'healthy' looking body of himself.

Orochimaru, in his new body, decided to create some distance with Naruto. He then went through hand signs and launched a jutsu, **"Mandara no Jin !"** he called his jutsu as thousands of snakes came out of his mouth, targeting Naruto.

"_Interesting, looks like some kuchiyose justu, it still looks creepy though."_ Thought the blond before preparing his own jutsu.

He made a single clone and hold out his right hand. He performed a **Rasengan** while his clone charged wind chakra in the orb. After some time, with the addition of the wind chakra, the **Rasengan** changed and took the form of a giant fuma shuriken.

"You fool, I know about your jutsu and how you defeated Kabuto with it. You will never be close enough reach me with it." Taunted Orochimaru as his snakes were about to reach Naruto.

"Who said I needed to be close ?" Naruto replied with a smirk and then launched his jutsu.

"**Futon : Rasenshuriken !"** He said as the wind powered chakra orb left his hand.

Orochimaru's eyes widened as the flying **Rasengan** completely annihilated the wave of snakes approaching Naruto. _"The **Mandara no Jin** did not even slow it down, I have to act fast or even I could die if it hits me."_ Mused Orochimaru as he prepared his next move.

Biting his thumbs, he then slammed his hands to the ground and launched his jutsu, **"Kuchiyose : Sanju Rashomon !"**. Similar to what happened during the fight against Kabuto during the rescue of Tsunade, Orochimaru's absolute defense appeared out of the ground but instead of one door, three were summoned.

When the **Rasenshuriken** impacted the first door, everything went blank …

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **Yep evil cliffhanger :)

What do you think ? Sorry if Naruto appeared a little on edge in this chapter, wanted to highlight his frustration in not getting results in his attempts to free Natsuki.

As usual Read and Review please.

* * *

><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

**Futon : Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami** , translates as the Pinnacle of Great Work.

This is Naruto's second ultimate form. In this form, his control over the wind is amplified tenfold. This allows Naruto the use of the wind to increase his speed and power by reducing the air resistance to all his movements and jutsu. At the same time, it increases the wind resistance for his enemies, forcing them to double their effort while he only uses half of his strength to reach the same result.


	26. New Assignments

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

* * *

><p>People were surprised that Naruto would go after Orochimaru instead of Sasuke. Well, Sasuke is just not powerful enough to face Naruto. He doesn't even have the Mangekyo Sharingan yet, so I made Naruto go for Orochimaru instead.<p>

I was also surprised that no one was mad that Naruto put away the Hiraishin notes, I guess that the current Naruto, with the original moves I made up for him, satisfies you all. I've seen some godlike Naruto stories where readers want him to learn the Hiraishin as soon as possible.

As for the **Rasenshuriken** making an appearance so soon, well I already made him use the **Futon : Rasengan** before the time skip, so it's not really impossible that three years later the upgraded version would be ready.

I've revealed the second ultimate form of Naruto's bloodline last chapter, some of you may already be able to guess what the final form is or its name so be nice and don't spoil it to your fellow readers who don't know please :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 26: New Assignments<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Bridge of Heaven and Earth<strong>

Near the destroyed bridge could be seen four figures.

Sasuke was currently trapped in Jiraya's earth jutsu. When he charged at Naruto and went through the blond's illusion field, he did not notice Jiraya's jutsu until it was already too late, even with the Sharingan.

The avenger's body was completely buried and only his head was floating above the muddy ground. Jiraya made sure he wouldn't get out by quickly applying a chakra restriction seal on his forehead.

Jiraya was now standing next to his prisoner, a rope in his hand was the only thing preventing Sasuke from completely sinking into the mud trap and drown.

Kabuto wasn't doing any better. When he followed his master's next container, he didn't see the incoming punch of Sakura until it was too late.

He also bitterly regretted underestimating the Leaf kunoichi, the last memory he got of her was her frail and useless self in the chunin exams three years ago. Consequently when he was hit with the first punch, he didn't activated his high healing ability, thinking that she wouldn't deal him any serious damage.

How wrong he was, as now he could barely stay on his two feet. His healing technique was finally activated but the damage was done. He was trying to evade Sakura's hits but in his current condition it proved to be very difficult. He decided to run and evade until his healing was complete.

The four ninja suddenly felt the ground shake and turned their heads towards the other side of the bridge. They saw quite far away from their current position, Orochimaru's ultimate defense jutsu rapidly rising from the ground. A few seconds after that, a blinding light erupted from the same position and as fast as they appeared, the three demonic gates also completely vanished.

The reactions were diverse from this side of the bridge.

"_It was Orochimaru-sama **Sanju Rashomon** jutsu just now, he only uses it in extreme situation !"_ Kabuto mused.

"_I wonder what the idiot used to destroy those gates."_ Were Sasuke's thoughts.

"_That's Naruto's **Rasenshuriken**, I wonder how the snake dealt with it."_ Jiraya wondered.

"_What the hell is going on ?"_ Sakura was completely oblivious to what was happening on the other side of the bridge.

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto and Orochimaru<strong>

* * *

><p>The landscape was totally devastated by Naruto's jutsu, the wind generated by his <strong>Rasenshuriken<strong> was so powerful it leveled a huge part of the forest they were fighting in. A huge cloud of dust was currently floating in the air.

The blond was calmly standing, on the exact same spot he was when he launched his jutsu. The recoil from the wind technique apparently not affecting him one bit, he just observed the results. There was no trace of Orochimaru but he doubted that it was enough to kill the traitorous snake.

After some seconds, the cloud of dust finally settled down.

In front of him laid an ocean of dead snakes, their bodies shredded by the slicing wind blades created by Naruto's jutsu. A little bit further from there, was a gigantic crater at the spot where Orochimaru summoned his three gates of hell.

As Naruto made his way towards ground zero, he saw the unmoving body of his enemy. Just like the snakes, Orochimaru's body was covered with deep cuts. Naruto was about to take a step further when he was forced to stop and put up his guard. The exact same scene of Orochimaru spitting another body as he did earlier happened, though this time the new body didn't seem as 'healthy' as the previous time he switched.

Orochimaru, in his third body, slowly stood up. He was panting, unable to catch his breath and his body was covered with slicing wounds, though not as deep as the previous body.

"_His jutsu did something to my chakra circulatory system, I can't properly mold my chakra. I've used most of it anyway with the successive body renewal jutsu. He doesn't even look tired, I can't stay here any longer."_ Thought Orochimaru.

The snake sennin then suddenly did a single hand sign and looked into Naruto's eyes, **"Kanashibari no jutsu !"** he yelled.

Naruto did not expect the sudden sneak attack and lost control of his body for a second. He quickly overcame the paralysis jutsu but when he looked up, he saw Orochimaru's extended sword ready to pierce his heart. Without thinking Naruto launched a defensive move.

"**Senpo : Ryu no Hada !"** He called as his wings instantly appeared from his back and went to cover his body.

Everything went really fast, the **Kusanagi** went through the double protective layer provided by Naruto's wings, it stopped its course one inch away from Naruto's skin, the tip right above his heart, then instantly retracted.

When Naruto removed his guard, he saw the retreating form of Orochimaru trying to make a run for it. The snake wasn't as fast as he was at the beginning of their fight, though Naruto was wounded too, his wings were actually hurting him quite a bit.

"_To think he was able to block that attack, that's the move I used against the previous Kazekage, damn it !"_ Thought Orochimaru as he went to collect his two subordinates on the other side of the bridge.

* * *

><p><strong>Bridge of Heaven and Earth<strong>

* * *

><p>Jiraya was still guarding the trapped Sasuke while Sakura and Kabuto were in a heated taijutsu exchange fight.<p>

His plan worked, Kabuto's healing technique repaired the damages he sustained earlier while he stalled Sakura with taijutsu. He was about to go on the offensive and take her out when he felt his master's presence.

Out of nowhere, the extended **Kusanagi** appeared, aiming for Jiraya's heart. The toad sennin had no choice but to let go of his hold on the prisoner, and moved backwards.

Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, Kabuto backhanded Sakura and threw her aside. He then ran to the drowning Sasuke and pulled him out.

"We're leaving, hurry up we have no time to waste anymore !" Ordered Orochimaru as he emerged from the spot where the **Kusanagi** appeared.

Kabuto immediately complied and dragged the numbed body of Sasuke Uchiha with him, following his master.

Jiraya cursed as he saw the unmoving body of Sakura on the ground. Remembering his promise with Tsunade to bring back their two disciples, he went to assist the kunoichi, rather than pursuing the group of Oto ninja.

It was at this moment that Naruto appeared from the same direction Orochimaru came from earlier with his dragon wings still deployed. He slowly flew down to the position of Jiraya and Sakura before looking in the direction where their three opponents just fled to. He took a deep breath and then closed his eyes.

"**Senpo : Ryugan !"** He yelled before opening his eyes. Instead of the usual oceanic blue color, they had golden colored iris, with long slitted black pupils.

Naruto then took a familiar stance before pointing his katana in the snake's direction.

"**Futon : Kamishini no Yari !"** He said as his blade glowed.

It was only luck and mostly years of experience that allowed Orochimaru to sense the impending doom. The millisecond it took him to maneuver his body in order to look back, allowed him to avoid Naruto's long range Divine spear technique hitting him right in the center of his back. He only felt a gush of wind above his right arm before it exploded in a shower of blood.

The attack and the pain it caused, made Orochimaru miss a step while tree jumping. He was about to fall to the ground when Kabuto caught him. The medic ninja now had to carry his two companions, not an easy feat with his already weakened body. However he somehow managed and the three of them could finally leave the area without further troubles.

Seeing that his attack failed, Naruto sighed heavily before turning back to join Jiraya and Sakura.

"So that's your doujutsu, you never showed it to me before." Jiraya said looking at his disciple's eyes.

"More like body enhancement due to my sage mode, just like your resistance and strength in Gama sennin mode." Replied Naruto truthfully to his master.

"What does it do exactly ? I mean other than giving you a mean look in the eyes." Slightly joked Jiraya.

"Haha, really funny, seen your face lately when you use that sennin mode of yours ?" Naruto taunted before adopting a serious demeanor again.

"The dragon eye, gives me near perfect vision. I can see in high details on much higher lengths than the human eye. Then I also have an easier time to follow objects moving at high speed with it than normally. Finally because of a wider wavelength spectrum sensitivity than for the human eye, it also allows me night-vision." Said Naruto to his master.

"Impressive, so that's how you were able to hit them just a moment ago, even if they were so far away." Replied Jiraya.

"Yep, there's really no point in having this long range jutsu if I can't pinpoint my opponent's position." Said Naruto as he slowly deactivated his sage mode.

"Well, now while we wait for Tsunade's apprentice to wake up, why don't you tell me all about your fight with my ex teammate." Ordered Jiraya.

"Alright but I'll tell you something right now, that teammate of yours is one sick freak." Naruto started and Jiraya chuckled at his disciple's antics.

"Anyway, it went like this ..." Naruto told Jiraya the details of his fight against Orochimaru, from the moment he destroyed the bridge to the moment he reappeared before using his long ranged piercing technique.

"Well, it seems this mission will end in failure. It can't be helped it was a trap all along. Kabuto was most likely freed from Sasori's control by Orochimaru a long time ago." Announced Jiraya.

"I seriously doubt that anything he told me about their bases is the truth either." Added Naruto.

"Let's not worry about that for now. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about." Said Jiraya.

"What is it ?" Asked Naruto.

"I wanted to talk about the scene you made in Tsunade's office, why were you so reluctant to be in this mission ?" Jiraya demanded.

Naruto sighed and then went to check Sakura's status to make sure she was still unconscious. After confirming it, he turned to his master.

"I'm trying to find my father's notes on the **Shiki Fuujin** in order to find a way to free Natsuki without killing myself in the process." Naruto finally confessed.

Jiraya's eyes widened at Naruto's answer. It all made sense now, he was also working on this topic the last time he was like that, during their training trip.

"I suppose you're not making any progress then ?" Jiraya asked, getting a nod from Naruto.

Jiraya pondered for a moment the consequences of telling Naruto about the key to his seal but in the end decided that it was still too soon.

"Don't give up, I'm sure you'll find a way. Your father was very secretive about those things so I don't really know." Jiraya said.

After two hours, Sakura finally woke up and directly looked for the Uchiha avenger.

"What happened ? Where is Sasuke-kun ?" She asked while slowly standing up.

"The mission is a failure, we could not get any intelligence on Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke also escaped again. When Kabuto knocked you out, he and Orochimaru were able to free him and fled the area. Naruto managed to severely wound Orochimaru, though I'm pretty sure it was not the last of him we will ever see." Jiraya replied as Sakura looked down.

"What now Ero-sennin ?" Naruto asked Jiraya.

"I doubt Orochimaru and his goons left any exploitable tracks, and it wouldn't be a good idea to charge after them either, now that they know about us. We have no choice but to cancel the mission and go back to Konoha." Announced Jiraya.

"You two will go back after you're fully rested, I have another mission waiting for me." Added the hermit.

"What ? Where are you going ?" Naruto asked.

"To Ame, it's about your new status there." Jiraya replied and Naruto understood it was the infiltration mission his master was talking about, it made sense since Amegakure wasn't really far from where they were right now.

Naruto frowned then thought back about what Natsuki and Jiraya told him, he then decided that they were right and that he could still work on the seal when he gets back.

"I'm going with you, it's about me after all." Naruto said with conviction.

Jiraya looked at his godson with pride and then spoke again.

"I'm afraid you can't go with me this time. It's a sensitive mission, every spy I sent there was discovered and disposed of shortly after. It is best if I do this alone this time, it will lower the chance of being discovered. Plus I promised Tsunade that you and her disciple would get back to the Leaf safely and I too, am a man of my Word." Jiraya said with a smile.

Seeing the logic in his master's words, Naruto complied and shortly after, He and Sakura went East back towards Konoha while Jiraya went South, in the direction of Ame.

"Be careful Ero-sennin ! I'll see you in Konoha !" Yelled Naruto to his master as they parted ways.

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

* * *

><p>Tsunade was currently seated in front of two people inside her office. They both looked quite young.<p>

"So let me get this straight, your leader wants me to send you a ninja in order to help you win your civil war against Yagura." Tsunade said.

"My name is Haku Yuki and my partner is Chojuro. And yes, you are correct Hokage-sama, but we don't want any ninja, we want the Kaze no Kami, we want Uzumaki Naruto." Replied the now identified Haku.

Tsunade sighed, _"The brat is not going to like this but it is a good opportunity to know what's going on in Kiri."_ She thought as she prepared herself for the upcoming confrontation with her favorite blond jonin.

* * *

><p><strong>Main Gates – Two days later<strong>

* * *

><p>As Naruto and Sakura made it back to Konoha, two days after parting ways with Jiraya, they were again greeted by Kotetsu and Izumo. Same as last time, they were asked to report immediately to the Hokage tower.<p>

Naruto sighed at the _déjà vu_ but complied and used **Shunshin** to reach Tsunade's office.

* * *

><p><strong>Amegakure<strong>

* * *

><p>At the same time, in the country where the rain never stops, in the middle of a small lake a toad slowly emerged. From its stretched mouth, a man appeared and slowly made his way to the ground.<p>

"_Infiltration successful !"_ Jiraya Thought.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Tried to make Naruto's last words to Jiraya good ones. They parted in good terms and Naruto told him about the **Shiki Fuujin** and his project.

Next chapter is the beginning of a new original arc, I decided to involve Naruto in the Kiri civil war. Since Jiraya is trying to figure out what's up with Ame, it made sense that I would send Naruto to Kiri.

Come back from Haku ! Did you think I would forget him and Zabuza, the responsible for the Kaze no Kami naming and his first appearance in the bingo book ? Of course not !

I'm wondering if I should detail the entire fight between Jiraya and Pain as it will be exactly identical to what happens in the classic Naruto manga. What do you readers think ? Do you want me to write it anyway or just put a quick summary inside a chapter ?

As usual please Read and leave Reviews.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu : <strong>

**Senpo : Ryugan** , translates as Sage Arts : Dragon Sight. Naruto gains the sight of the dragon, increasing greatly his vision field, accuracy and perception. With those eyes activated, Naruto has the ability to see detailed images at a very far distance. His mind is processing the visual information a lot quicker too, allowing him to see fast moving objects as if they were in slow motion. Finally, he is also granted the power to see perfectly fine during the night as if he was in broad daylight.

For anyone having difficulty to picture it with my poor description skills, just google 'Dragon eye' and you'll see what I meant :)


	27. Reunions

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>From the reviews I got for the last chapter, all of you were pleased with the way the fight with Orochimaru ended. I understand that some people have concerns about killing off Jiraya without him telling Naruto about the key. Don't worry, I already thought about it and there are other possible ways to deal with this issue, there is no plot hole yet :)<p>

Now, as I said, the fate of Jiraya is already sealed and will follow the classic manga. Most of you voted for a small summary or flashback to reveal how the Amegakure infiltration mission went, so that's what you'll get. I'm sorry for those who wanted the J-man to stay alive, I really like him too, however his death is a necessary step in Naruto's character development.

Story aside, I am pleased that the number of reviews picked up. I'm very grateful and try to reply to everyone at least once.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 27: Reunions<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

Naruto and Sakura were granted access to Tsunade's office immediately as they arrived. Shizune followed the duo into her master's office and then closed the door behind her.

Tsunade had a smile on her face when she saw the two of them come into her office, relieved that they both came back safely as Jiraya promised. Seeing the look on Sakura's face, she already knew the mission ended in a failure. Nevertheless, she ordered Naruto to give his report, as he was the one with the highest rank in Jiraya's absence.

"Glad to have you both back, I already know about Jiraya's next mission. Now give me a report on your mission Naruto." She said to the blond.

Naruto told her everything, how Kabuto was in fact a double agent, the fight against Orochimaru and finally how they escaped.

"I see, then this mission will be classified as a failure, I'm sorry Sakura." Announced Tsunade with an comforting look to her disciple.

"Is there anything else Tsunade-sama ?" Asked the kunoichi to her master.

"No, good work both of you. You are dismissed Sakura, Naruto you stay." Replied Tsunade.

Sakura bowed to her leader then left the office. Tsunade then had Shizune go summon some guests and told Naruto to take a seat. They stayed like this just the two of them, silent for a moment before Naruto decided to speak.

"Hmm, Ba-chan, there's something I wanted to say to you." He started.

"What is it ? And how many times did I tell you to stop calling me that already ?" Replied Tsunade.

"I wanted to apologize for the way I acted before we left for the mission last time. I was preoccupied with something and let my temper get the best of me, I'm sorry." Naruto said.

"It's alright, I know you've been involved in a lot of things lately, and you never asked for any of those to happen. Jiraya and I wanted for you to live a peaceful life too, but some things in this world are just impossible." Replied Tsunade with a smile.

"Speaking of that, do you know anything about the place where Ero-sennin went to ?" Asked Naruto.

"Well, I've been there before. We faced their leader there once, with Jiraya and Orochimaru. His name is Hanzo the Salamander and he is the one who named us the sannin after he defeated us. We don't know much about their current status, every spying mission in that country ended in failure. I told him it was too dangerous but Jiraya insisted to go. He told me that he would do everything in his power to protect you." Tsunade said as Naruto had a smile on his face.

"So why did you wanted me to stay here anyway ?" Asked Naruto.

"Actually, it is linked to the mission Jiraya is currently undergoing. Let's wait for the guests I told Shizune to summon and you will understand everything." Finished Tsunade.

Then she continued her paperwork while Naruto just relaxed in his seat.

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><p><strong>Timeskip – 30 minutes later<strong>

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><p>Naruto was about to doze off when the door to Tsunade's office suddenly opened. Shizune was back and she brought two people with her. Naruto was still a bit out of it but instantly recognized one of them when he finally looked up to them.<p>

"Haku! Is that really you?" The blond asked.

"Yes it's me. It's been a long time, Uzumaki-san." Replied Haku.

"What are you doing here? And more importantly, where is that old fool Zabuza? I still have to thank him for putting me inside that damn book!" Naruto said.

"It's a long story, why don't you sit back and let me tell you the reason I'm here." Haku said.

"Sit down Naruto and listen to him, this is the reason I told you to stay back after all." Tsunade ordered, Naruto nodded and then sat back down.

Haku then started his story. Apparently, after they left Wave Country, Zabuza decided to go back home and try again to overthrow Yagura. Not in the same way he did the last time though, this time he needed to have better preparations. His last attempt failed because he didn't have enough men and tried to attack the Mizukage frontally.

Consequently, he joined the rebellion, the side of the bloodline users. After the revolt of the Kaguya clan, Yagura became paranoid and started to purge every bloodline user clan they had in Kiri. The clans had no other choice but to flee their homes and formed the rebellion to resist extermination. Their leader is quite mysterious and only a few know his true name or face. The only known fact is that he is wielding not one but two powerful bloodlines.

The civil was has been going on for years now, the rebellion managed to achieve some victories over the Mizukage but they still lack something crucial in order for them to win once and for all. They do not have anyone capable of matching the firepower of the Mizukage Yagura, the jinchuriki of the three tailed demon.

"And that is why our leader wants you to join our side Uzumaki-san. It is a well known fact that you once defeated the jinchuriki of the one tailed raccoon when you were only a genin. We also know of your more recent achievements, would you please lend us a hand in stopping this war that has plagued our country for years ?" Asked Haku as he finished his story.

"It's up to you Naruto, I won't force you to go this time. But don't forget that this may be a good lead to what Akatsuki has been up to since your name has come up in the bingo book with Kiri also wanting your head." Tsunade said as Naruto was looking in her direction for her orders.

Naruto thought about it for a moment, he then remembered that Jiraya was currently risking his life in a similar mission, just to protect him. He took a deep breath then gave his decision to the people waiting for him in the room.

"Fine, I'm in." Naruto replied with a smile.

Tsunade was proud of her jonin and last living relative, but she had to warn him about something else too.

"Before you leave there's something you must know. Konoha can not officially support the rebellion, it could provide the Mizukage with a reason to declare war on us. We do not have the resources nor the will to go at war with another major village right now. Therefore, if you take this mission, you will have to leave anything that would identify you as a Konoha shinobi here before you join them." Tsunade announced. She got a nod from Naruto, the last thing he wanted for his village was a war where countless lives would be lost.

"That would be all, you are to leave in one hour. Dismissed." Tsunade finished as everyone left her office.

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><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

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><p>Naruto was finally home after the failed mission in Kusagakure. Fortunately for him, packing went fast since he was a practically a master in fuinjutsu, everything he needed went into scrolls. Thinking about Tsunade's warning on keeping a low profile, he made sure to leave his leaf headband home. Nothing else in his current gear was betraying his affiliation to Konoha so with that, he was done with the packing.<p>

He decided to relax a bit, seeing that he still had some time before he had to leave.

"Na-chan, what do you know about the Sanbi ?" Asked Naruto.

"**It's been ages since I last saw that overgrown turtle. His jinchuriki should have a very high affinity to the water element."** Replied Natsuki.

"How was his personality, do you think it has something to do with the Mizukage sudden change of attitude towards the bloodline holders ?" Naruto asked, thinking about Gaara's case and the harmful influence Shukaku had on him.

"**I've been thinking about it too but something is strange. Sanbi was never an aggressive one, he always sought peace and tried to coexist with the human race."** Natsuki said with confusion in her tone.

"Then if it doesn't come from the bijuu, something must have happened to the host. Before the Kaguya incident, Yagura was supposedly a gentle and peaceful leader. Something doesn't add in this story." Naruto analyzed out loud.

"**Remember to be very careful Naru-kun, it doesn't matter that you can control up to five tails. Even a genin could kill a Kage with a lucky shot, never underestimate your opponents."** Natsuki said to him, worried that he would be over confident.

"Don't worry so much, Na-chan. I promise I'll be careful. You'll be there to scold me anyway if I'm not." Naruto joked.

When the time to leave for the mission came, Naruto made sure to lock his manor, then made his way to the gates.

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><p><strong>Konoha Gates<strong>

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><p>Naruto was the last to arrive at the gates, not that he was late though. Tsunade and Shizune were there to see him off. Haku and Chojuro were ready to leave and waited for him.<p>

"Well, I'm off again Ba-chan, Nee-chan." Naruto said to the two kunoichi.

"Be careful out there Naruto, you are a jonin now, I trust that you will do well in your mission." Tsunade said.

"Go and make us proud, Naruto-kun." Shizune added.

And with that he left, following Haku and his companion.

"So what's the plan ? Where do we go first ?" Naruto asked Haku.

"Our destination is Wave Country, from there we'll take a boat that will take us to one of the smaller island surrounding Kirigakure. Our main camp is located on one of those islands, you will meet our leader there." Haku replied and Naruto nodded.

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><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

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><p>In a huge dark cave, another meeting between the Akatsuki members was taking place.<p>

"Report, Zetsu." The leader said.

"The Ichibi is under good guard now that we failed the first attempt on him. It won't be easy to go after him now. The security of Suna has been completely upgraded and the same tactic won't work again."

"The Nibi and Hachibi are both hidden in Kumo, we never had any contact inside and they don't trust any foreigner. We don't have much info on either of them."

"Sanbi and Rokubi are still in Kiri, though it seems the rebel faction is gaining territory over Yagura lately. It may be wise to take them out now."

"Yonbi and Gobi should be the easiest to get, they are left alone in Iwa and no one really cares about them. They live like hermits in the outskirts of Iwagakure."

"Nanabi is still hidden in Takigakure, the village defenses are weak so we should have an easy time capturing it."

"Finally, the Kyuubi is still a problem. I managed to spy on him during his fight with Orochimaru. Our ex member was utterly dominated by him, in addition to what we already knew about him, it seems he completed a new version of the **Rasengan**. It is a jutsu he can throw, contrary to the version developed by the fourth Hokage. Orochimaru deployed his **Sanju Rashomon** against it but was still overpowered. Right now, he's in Konoha." Zetsu finished his report.

"We will concentrate on the easier targets for now. Itachi and Kisame will go to Iwa. Kakuzu and Hidan will go to Kiri. Deidara and Tobi will go to Taki. Konoha, Suna and Kumo are still out of our reach for now." Announced the leader.

With that every member canceled his communication jutsu and faded into the darkness.

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><p><strong>Otogakure – Underground Base<strong>

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><p>Orochimaru was in his room, bedridden, with Kabuto at his side.<p>

"I have the results of your medical exams, my Lord." Said the medic.

"What did that damn brat do to me ? Why can't I properly mold my chakra even after regenerating my body ?" Asked Orochimaru.

"The analysis have shown that you suffer from damages to your chakra circulatory system. His wind attack seems to act like a poison that slowly disables your capacity to use your chakra network. I've never seen anything like that, it interacts with your body to the cellular level. There's nothing you can do against it in your current body. Even with the body renewal jutsu you used during your fight with him, it would be the same. The disease is spreading through your chakra." Replied Kabuto.

"I see, so there is only one solution to this." Orochimaru said.

"Yes my Lord, you will need to transfer your soul again to a new container. That's the only way to escape that curse." Confirmed the medic.

"Speaking of that, What is he up to right now ?" Asked the sennin.

"He's training as usual. He does nothing else than that nowadays, aside from brooding of course." Replied Kabuto.

"How are the preparations for the ritual ?" Orochimaru demanded.

"Everything will be ready in three weeks." Kabuto said as he changed a bandage for his master.

"Good, restrict his movements to inside this base only and never let him out of your sight from now on. I've gone this far, it's finally time I collect." Said a smirking Orochimaru.

"As you command, my Lord." Kabuto replied as he left the room.

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><p><strong>Small Island – South of Kirigakure<strong>

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><p>It took three days for Naruto and the two rebel members to reach the main base of the rebellion. Everywhere around them, the lands were covered by a thick mist, providing a natural protection for the rebel camp.<p>

At the main gates of the base, they were greeted by a middle aged man wearing an eye patch. His name was Ao and he seemed to be someone of high ranking among the rebels. They were about to go inside the main building when Ao stopped them.

"I will have to ask you to hand over your sword and put on those handcuffs before you are presented to our leader." He demanded from Naruto.

Naruto saw the seals engraved on the handcuffs and realized that they would completely block his chakra the moment he put them on.

"Listen now old man, I came here to help you win a war, not to become your bitch. Now you have a choice, you will let me pass and go meet that leader of yours or I'll simply turn back and leave the same way I came. I wouldn't advise you or your men to try to stop me either, if you thought Yagura was a cruel man you surely won't enjoy what I can do." Naruto said in a cold voice, unleashing killing intent.

"Anyway, I may be alright with handing over my sword but you sure as hell can be sure that I will never put those cuffs on." He added.

Haku and Chojuro didn't know what to do, they completely forgot that Ao was a really prudent man when it came to security but they also understood Naruto. He would be completely defenseless if he accepted to put on those cuffs.

The guards around them tensed immediately at the confrontation, they were about to reach out for their weapons when a new voice interrupted them.

"That's enough ! Stand down, all of you put your weapons down !" Ordered a voice that Naruto instantly recognized.

As a man slowly made his way out of the main building, the guards moved away from his path and Naruto was greeted with a face he didn't see for three years.

"Zabuza ..." Growled Naruto, remembering the man he spared during the Wave mission but mostly the man who gave him his moniker and his first profile in the bingo book.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Made a little 'world tour' to let you know how the bijuu hunt is going to be. I decided that Akatsuki didn't need to seal them all in order from Ichibi to Kyuubi. Wasn't sure about how it happened in the classic mange though. Anyway, Gaara, Yugito, Bee and Naruto are seemingly safe for the moment, though you never know ...

Used the **Rasenshuriken** after effects on Orochimaru to act as a catalyst in his soul transfer procedure. I felt he needed the 'motivation' as he had it with Sarutobi's curse for the classic manga.

Finally, some tension right off the bat for the Kiri civil war mission. First between Naruto and Ao and then with Zabuza. Let's see if he accepts to put on the cuffs and how he thanks Zabuza for the bingo book thing next time :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	28. Rebellion

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Let's start as usual with some feedback on the reviews for the last chapter. It's nice to see that a lot of readers are happy with the return of Zabuza, a special mention to <strong>Melkor44<strong> for remembering my little joke on him the first time he met Naruto. This is the first time I really deviate from the canon storyline, I hope this will meet your expectations.

Now for the reviews asking me to spare Jiraya, I believe I already stated my position on the subject. There's also a request for Fuu the Nanabi jinchuriki container, I'm afraid to say she also needs to die but not for the same reasons. Akatsuki needs to achieve some victories too for the plot to advance, it gets repetitive if they keep losing to the 'good side'. Hope you get my point.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 28: Rebellion<strong>

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><p><strong>Southern Island – Rebel Base<strong>

The tension was at its peak when Naruto saw Zabuza making his way out of the building. The ex Kiri shinobi just walked calmly towards the blond and stopped when he saw Naruto putting a hand on his katana.

"Relax, there's no need to blast your KI **(Killing Intent)** all over the area like that, it will only serve to alert Yagura and his forces that our base is here." Started Zabuza.

"So we finally meet again Momochi Zabuza. Don't think for a second that I forgot the wonderful present you gave me three years ago, after I went through the trouble of sparing your life on that bridge." Replied Naruto still in a defensive stance.

"You didn't complain at the time, I believe I said something like : _Your generosity and your skill shall reach your enemies, even before you have had the chance to meet them on the battlefield young man._ And that's exactly what I did. You on the other hand, still letting me leave after I said that, kinda gave me the authorization to proceed." Zabuza said with a mocking tone.

Naruto's eyes widened as he was replaying the scene in his mind. He relaxed his stance and moved his hand away from his katana before speaking again.

"Alright, I will concede with you on this. However, you guys can keep on dreaming if you think for a second that I will let you seal off my chakra. Speaking of that, I sure hope you aren't the mysterious rebel leader Zabuza, or this war won't be a long one." Naruto said in his own mocking tone.

Zabuza chuckled at the jab, but let it slide. The tension was finally going down and that was a good achievement. The last thing they needed was to fight someone of Naruto's rank right now, if the hit list in his bingo book profile was a good indication.

"I see you're still cocky as ever, but don't worry, I may be of high ranking in the rebellion but I'm not the leader. Come with me, I'll introduce you to the real leader and you don't need to put the chakra restriction cuffs on either." Replied Zabuza.

"I cannot allow this Zabuza, we don't know anything about him, you can't be serious about him meeting the leader with no restriction !" Yelled Ao.

"I will vouch for him, don't worry. We're the ones asking for a favor after all, unless you want their meeting to happen here in the open, I could always bring the leader here instead ?" Zabuza baited knowing in advance how to push his comrade's buttons.

"That would be even worse ! Alright fine, he can go inside without the cuffs but I still want the katana gone." Ao put his foot down this time, Zabuza knew it and turned his head to Naruto who sighed.

Naruto took out and tossed his katana to Haku then finally followed Zabuza inside the building.

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><p><strong>Main Island<strong>

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><p>Two shadows were slowly walking through the thick mist, on the main island of Water Country. They both wore black robes with red clouds, signaling their allegiance to Akatsuki.<p>

The first one had medium length silver hair and purple eyes, his robe was slightly opened around his neck, revealing a forehead protector he wore as a choker with the slashed emblem from Yugakure on it. He was carrying a triple bladed scythe on his back.

The second was tall, dark skinned and had a muscular build. He wore a white hood with a black face mask, only his eyes were visible on his face. Those eyes had a strange coloring, green iris with no pupils and red sclera. He wore a forehead protector with the scratched emblem of Takigakure.

"Who are we going after first ?" Asked the first one.

"If you used your head for a moment Hidan, you would realize that one of the target will be way easier to get that the other one." Replied the second.

"Which one is it ? Wait ! Did you just call me an idiot, Kakuzu ?" Hidan yelled at his partner.

"You think ? Anyway the easier target would be the Rokubi, since he is isolated while the other one is the Mizukage and has a personal army at his disposal to protect himself." Replied Kakuzu, ignoring his associate's rants.

"I'll kill you one day, you hear me ? Where are we going to find him ?" Hidan said.

"You wish you could, Zetsu spotted him on one of the Eastern island of Water Country." Kakuzu reminded him.

"I'm sure I'll find a way, Jashin-sama will have your head." Said Hidan.

"We lost enough time on this island, let's go." Finished Kakuzu as they disappeared in the mist.

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><p><strong>Rebel Base – Meeting Room<strong>

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><p>Naruto was led to a room that looked like the one they had in Konoha for the council meetings. Haku and Chojuro were still with him while Zabuza and Ao were following just behind them. In the center of the room stood a woman who immediately caught Naruto's attention.<p>

She was a slender woman, apparently in her thirties. She had ankle-length, auburn hair. Her eyes were light green. She was dressed in a long-sleeved dark blue dress that fell just below the knees. Underneath, she wore a mesh shirt that covered more of her upper body than her dress, but stopped short of covering her shoulders and still leaves a sizable cleavage. She also wore shorts in the same color as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Finally, she had high-heeled sandals and shin-guards reaching up over her knees.

"Mei-sama, we brought back reinforcement from Konoha as discussed." Said Haku as he bowed to the woman.

"I trust that there was no trouble during your mission to bring him back here ?" Replied Mei while looking at Naruto.

"Well, we encountered no problem in Konoha nor on the road to get here but ..." Started Haku but he was hesitant to relate the heated conversation they had at the gates earlier.

"Cyclops here, wanted to force me to wear those lovely handcuffs of yours, though I politely declined. I was about to force my way back to Konoha when Zabuza arrived and kindly invited me in, on the condition that I surrender my katana, which I did." Naruto cut in as he looked back at Ao.

Receiving a nod from Zabuza, Mei sighed heavily and turned back to Naruto.

"I'm sorry for his behavior but he was only thinking about my safety. In the past three years, Yagura sent countless assassins to kill me. He managed several times to come close to achieve that objective, planting his agents in my army. The only ones I fully trust with my life are in this room. My name is Terumi Mei and I am the leader of the rebellion." She replied with a smile.

"I understand, I'm also sorry for overreacting like that but I had no reason to trust any of you guys. For all I know this could be a very elaborate plan from Kiri or Akatsuki to take me down. Let's work on that trust thing then, my name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. I am also the one named Kaze no Kami in the bingo book, courtesy of our common friend Zabuza here. I'm here on a mission to assist the rebel forces to take down Yagura the Mizukage." Naruto announced.

Everyone in the room was stunned by the 'Namikaze' name, Mei was the first to regain her composure.

"Namikaze as in Namikaze Minato ?" She asked.

"Yes, the Fourth is my Father. Not many people outside Konoha's high council are aware of that but I'll trust you with that information on me." Naruto replied.

The people in the room were surprised he would openly trust them with such a sensitive information. Now that they were told, they could all see the face of the famous Yondaime Hokage while looking at Naruto.

"Haku, give him his katana back." Mei ordered and Haku was about to hand over the katana back when Ao protested.

"Is it really prudent Mei-sama ?" Asked the man.

"Yes it is, he trusted us with his real name and lineage, the least we could do is to trust him back." Replied the red head as Naruto got his weapon back.

"Now that it's settled, why don't you tell me how we're gonna take down Yagura." Naruto said with a smile.

Mei gave him the statu quo between the loyalists and her rebel army. In the last three years, Yagura lost control over most of the islands around Kirigakure. Only the main island remains fully under his control. The final assault has been planned for weeks now but they needed a trump card in order to win the final battle. They needed someone powerful enough to match the power of a jinchuriki fully in control of his tailed beast.

"So that's where you come in Uzumaki-san." Finished Mei.

"I see, I do have a way to deal with a jinchuriki but I'll need your assistance." Replied Naruto.

"It will take a couple of days to gather the troops and equipment needed for the final battle. You can stay and rest in this base while the preparations are in progress." Mei said. She was about to leave the room when Naruto interrupted her.

"Just one last thing, I thought Kiri also had the Rokubi jinchuriki, what about him ?" Naruto asked.

"Utakata escaped years ago, all we know is that he's hiding somewhere in one of the islands surrounding Kirigakure. We tried to find him and make him join our cause but we never encountered him." Mei replied and then left the conference room.

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><p><strong>Kirigakure<strong>

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><p>It had been two days since Naruto joined the rebels, today was the day of the final battle. The rebel forces had been divided in four equal groups and would attack the main island from four different angles.<p>

While the troops under Yagura set out to defend their borders, a smaller task force was supposed to infiltrate the village and go directly for Yagura himself. The plan was simple, take out the head and the rest would follow shortly after.

Naruto was in the advanced group that was infiltrating Kirigakure of course. Ao, Zabuza, Haku and Mei were also with him while Chojuro was leading the main army's attack. They were currently observing the battalions of loyalists Kiri nins getting out of the village to join the front lines.

"How is it going so far ?" Asked Mei to Ao who surprisingly had a **Byakugan** under his eye patch. Naruto decided to let it slide for now.

"Very good Mei-sama, Yagura is sending out most of his troops to defend the island, I estimate that only one tenth of his army is still within the village." Ao reported.

"Alright start the operation then." Mei ordered as their squad came closer to Naruto who activated his **Maboroshi no Sekai** genjutsu field, hiding everyone's presence.

They were nearly at the Mizukage tower when a voice stopped them.

"**Suiton : Suiryudan no jutsu !"** A gigantic water dragon made its way towards Naruto and his group. The size of the water beast had to be at least twice the size of the one Zabuza used against Naruto in Wave country.

The technique crashed right into Naruto's wind dome, washing away those who weren't fast enough to evade it. From the group of fifteen elite shinobi, only five remained, Naruto, Mei, Zabuza, Ao and Haku. The others had their neck broken by the power of the water current. Naruto's genjutsu was affected by the surge of water charged chakra and dispelled.

"How did you notice our presence ? No one should be able to see past my genjutsu." Asked Naruto, looking at the roof of a building, where the water dragon was launched from.

"Yagura ..." Zabuza said taking notice of where Naruto was looking.

"No matter how powerful your genjutsu is and how it affects my human senses, there's one thing you can't hide from me." Yagura answered.

"My youki ..." Naruto said with widened eyes.

"Exactly, what are you doing in my country … Kyuubi ?" Yagura replied.

The others were surprised at Yagura's revelation, none of them knew Naruto was a jinchuriki, much less the one for the most powerful demon, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. They had to keep their questions for later though, since they just lost the element of surprise.

"I came to kick some turtle's ass of course !" Naruto yelled as he took out his katana.

At this moment, a squad of Kiri ANBU arrived on the scene and directly attacked Mei and her guard while Yagura went for Naruto.

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto and Yagura<strong>

* * *

><p>Yagura was wielding what resembles a large, hook-ended staff with one end being larger than the other.<p>

They were engaged in a high level kenjutsu fight, Naruto tried to use his genjutsu to confuse Yagura but it failed again, thanks to the slight youki present in each of Naruto's thrusts, Yagura could predict and counter them.

When close contact fighting seemed useless, Naruto tried to put some distance between them and pointed his blade towards his opponent.

"**Futon : Kaze Shinsou !"** Naruto said as his wind blade extended itself instantly to attack Yagura.

"**Suiton : Mizukagami no jutsu !"** Yagura said as a strange circle made of water appeared in front of him.

Naruto's jutsu was blocked halfway from its target, strangely enough by the exact same jutsu Naruto launched. The blond theorized that whatever Yagura did with his mirror jutsu reflected his jutsu or copied it.

Naruto tried another approach, he kept launching single kunai that were aimed at his opponent's vital organs but Yagura easily evaded them all. Naruto then purposely missed with the next one and did some hand signs while Yagura simply let the badly thrown kunai pass him by.

"**Futon : Tsubame Gaeshi !"** He yelled as the kunai suddenly divided itself into fifteen copies and changed trajectory towards Yagura's unprotected back.

"**Suiton : Suinjinheki !"** Yagura said as a enormous water column rose from the ground and protected him from the kunai.

Naruto cursed as another of his signature move was blocked by the Mizukage.

"_He won't block what he can't see._" Naruto then thought as he launched his next jutsu.

"_**Futon : Furyudan no jutsu !"**_ Naruto called his wind dragon.

The wind beast was aimed at the base of the water column and effectively hit its target, completely annihilating the spot where Naruto aimed. Unfortunately for the blond, no one was blasted out of the water protection.

"Did you really thought that I had to stay at the base of the wall to fuel it with my water chakra, like a sitting duck ?" Yagura said as he appeared on top of the column, his arms extended with chakra feeding the water jutsu while keeping him floating above the ground.

"**Suiton : Suishoha !"** Yagura then yelled from his higher position as a giant wave of water was formed and made its way towards Naruto.

"**Senpo : Ryu no Hada !"** Naruto said as his dragon wings shielded him from the water attack.

Naruto was getting tired in this fight, something that hadn't happen in a long time. He prepared for his next move.

Yagura was slightly surprised at the sight of the Dragon wings and their defensive power, his moment of hesitation cost him as he missed Naruto launching his next move.

"**Futon : Kamishini no Yari !"** Naruto launched his Divine Spear technique from a small hole in his guard between his wings.

The Mizukage used his experience to dodge at the last moment but took a hit nevertheless. He was quickly falling to the ground with his shoulder bleeding profusely. When he touched the ground, he was about to look up and put his guard on when he saw that Naruto's next move was already approaching him.

"**Futon : Rasenshuriken !"** Was all Yagura heard before all went blank.

The wind powered chakra shuriken tore through Yagura, cutting him all over his body in so many places that even a Sharingan wouldn't be able to tell how many hits it generated. When the jutsu died down, Yagura's body was on the floor, unmoving.

Naruto was about to reach out for him when he suddenly jumped back, after feeling a huge spike of youki. Yagura slowly got up and was covered with the Sanbi's chakra. He was in a hybrid form, a chakra shroud covering him while three tails of chakra were floating behind his back.

"**What did you do to me, I can't regenerate as I usually do when I activate my youki ?"** Roared the transformed Yagura.

"You really expect me to answer you ? Anyway let's kick it up a notch, shall we ?" Naruto said as he activated one of his ultimate form.

"_He's finally drawing out youki, no point in battling a jinchuriki in a stamina contest, I'll have to use the other form."_ He mused as he called his jutsu.

"**Futon : Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami !"** Naruto said as a the wind violently picked up.

Yagura charged at him and engaged the blond in a taijutsu fight.

"Be careful Naruto, in this form everything he hits is instantly trapped into coral prisons structures from the initial point of contact with his **Sangosho **!" Yelled Mei as she and the other three just finished with their opponents. Naruto nodded to her and gave them a sign with his hand lifting three fingers. They understood what he wanted and moved from their position.

"**It doesn't matter if they help you, no one ever came out of this alive !"** Yagura roared as Naruto continued to evade his every hit with his eyes closed, the ground and walls around them turning into coral structures as Yagura kept missing. Naruto counted to three and suddenly leaped back and yelled "Now !".

As he did so, Mei, Ao, Zabuza and Haku appeared out of nowhere and positioned themselves around the transformed Yagura in a perfect square formation, with Yagura being the center. Naruto then called his jutsu as each of the four rebels suddenly took out a special looking kunai and planted it strongly into the ground.

"**Uzumaki Hijutsu : Akuma Sokubaku Wana !"** Naruto yelled.

Four dark chains appeared from the ground and instantly attached themselves around Yagura's body. The draining effect did its magic pretty quickly as Yagura could not move anymore. Naruto then launched himself in front of the Mizukage and prepared his final move, his right hand ready for an open palm thrust with his fingers radiating a purplish looking chakra.

"**Gogyo Fuin !"** He yelled as he slammed his right hand in Yagura stomach.

The result was immediate, the chakra shroud around Yagura's body dispelled before he fell to the ground unconscious.

Naruto deactivated all his techniques and laid down on the ground exhausted, "I guess the was is over ..." he said as he slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep in the middle of the street.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think about the rebellion's battle plan ?

Did Naruto's fight with Yagura seem realistic enough ? Tried to make Naruto fight harder than usual by having most of his arsenal countered, including his supposedly indestructible genjutsu.

Tomorrow is the 31st so I doubt I will release a new chapter before next year. I wish you all a happy new year in advance.

As usual please Read and Review.


	29. Savior

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Hello everyone, it is with great pleasure that I give you my first chapter of this new year. So happy New Year everyone and the best wishes.<p>

Seems like the original arc in Kiri is pretty well received, got unanimous praise for the last chapter. We all saw that Naruto's current limits were reached during his fight with Yagura, that only means that it is time for a new power up of course :)

I've tried to reply to anyone who posted a question in the reviews so don't hesitate and continue to review, your inputs are always appreciated and I will answer any questions, provided that they don't reveal too much or key points about the plot.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 29: Savior<strong>

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><p><strong>Kirigakure – Hospital<strong>

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and wondered where he was. The distinctive chemical smell and the white color all over the room immediately told him what he needed to know, he was in a hospital. He quickly got out of the bed and tried to communicate with his girlfriend Natsuki.

"Na-chan are you here ?" Asked the blond.

"**I'm here Naru-kun, it's good to hear your voice again." **Replied Natsuki.

"What happened ? The last thing I remember is me fighting Yagura in Kirigakure and then nothing." Naruto said in confusion.

"**You won the fight and then lost consciousness after you used all of your chakra. You were so low in chakra and energy that your body simply shut down and you couldn't even access your mindscape. I'm not sure how much time has passed since that moment, since my perception of the outside time in here is a bit vague."** Natsuki told him.

"No point in worrying about it alone in this room, let's go find Mei and the others." Naruto replied.

He then unsealed a spare set of clothes and changed into them. He noticed that his katana had been put on a small table on the left of his bed. Once he had all his equipment back on, he left his room and the hospital.

Remembering what the Mizukage tower looked like, he slowly made his way there. He didn't feel the need to use **Shunshin** and did not want to strain his body just after recovering from chakra exhaustion so he took the safe and long way.

On his way to the tower, he was a little surprised at how the people around looked at him. Those weren't looks of fear or hatred he was used to get in his own village, the population looked at him with nothing but admiration and awe. Naruto decided to keep his distance and only discretely smiled back to them, still not sure of what was going on. He picked up the pace and then arrived at the tower.

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><p><strong>Mizukage Tower – Mizukage Office<strong>

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><p>Naruto was immediately allowed access to the Mizukage office when he arrived in front of the leader's room. He was relieved to see Mei siting behind the desk when he got inside, in his daze he could recognize one or two familiar faces on his way there but most were new ones he never saw before.<p>

"It seems you're finally awake Uzumaki-san, I was starting to think you would never wake up after you lost consciousness at the end of the fight against Yagura." Mei said to him as he went inside the room.

"Just call me Naruto please and I kinda came here to talk about that. How long did I sleep and what's the situation ?" The blond asked.

"Sure Naruto-kun, if you say so." Mei said with a grin on her face while a certain vixen in his mind had a tick mark appear on her head. Mei then told him everything.

"First of all, a week passed since your fight with Yagura. As expected, after the defeat of their master the loyalist army completely collapsed in a matter of hours and our forces were able to best them easily." Mei started.

"Most of them are currently being held in a temporary camp we created just outside of the village. They will all undergo physical and psychological exams before we can decide which one can be reinstated and those who can't. For those who perpetrated crimes against us, bloodline users, they will be trialed, then if they are found guilty they will be executed. For the others, they will be exiled from Water Country." She continued.

"Moreover, it seems that most of the civil population of the village was terrified by Yagura and his men. No one could oppose him and they all lived in fear that he would suspect any of them to be on the side of the bloodline users and kill all their family. They were relieved to see our troops overrun the loyalists and were very helpful and cooperative with us since we took the village back." She said with a smile.

"Finally, after everything was over and we captured every last one of them, a temporary council has been created and I was elected to be their leader and the new Mizukage of Kirigakure. Yagura being a special case, is currently detained in a cell of the basement of the ANBU headquarters. His chakra is completely sealed off and he is watched by guards at all time. He woke up two days ago and it seems he doesn't remember anything, no bloodline purge, no civil war, nothing. It is as if he was in a dream world during all those years. Our best interrogators seemed to think that he is genuinely convinced that all those things never happened." Mei finished.

"So I guess he won't remember anything about me being in the bingo book with a huge bounty for my head in Kiri ..." Naruto said.

"I'm sorry, I know you also came here to know more about that. That's why I decided that he cannot be executed, even if his crimes are real we still have a use for him." Mei said. However she saw that Naruto did not enjoy seeing a fellow jinchuriki treated like an object to be used or disposed of and she reassured him.

"Rest assured that I didn't mean to use him as a weapon or anything, I'll give you the two reasons I have to keep him alive. First, we are not sure about the process of a jinchuriki dying, killing Yagura off could easily doom us all if the Sanbi was released at the death of its host. Secondly, by keeping him alive there's always a chance to know what happened to him that turned him from a gentle and peaceful leader to the crazy monster he became. We could at the same time discover what made him put such a high bounty on your head in the bingo book." Mei explained to him.

"I understand and apologize to you for judging you too fast." Naruto said bowing down in shame.

"Don't worry about that, we're friends right, Naruto-kun ?" Mei said with a smile.

"Of course Mei-chan !" Naruto said with conviction and a huge smile of his own.

"And don't worry about the bingo book either. Even if we can't learn more about it from Yagura, I'll make sure to remove the bounty on your head from Kirigakure. I'll make it even better if you let me of course." The red head said to him.

"What do you mean by that ?" Naruto asked.

"You may have noticed on your way here how the people looked at you." Asked the new Mizukage, getting a nod from Naruto.

"Well, it turns out some of them saw you fight Yagura and by the end of the week every single soul in the village knew who the one that defeated the tyrant was. I know that you were supposed to act under the cover of secrecy for this mission but now that the previous Mizukage is out of the equation, there is no risk for Konoha anymore. I also know that you are really proud to serve Konoha but I'd like to offer you a position in Kirigakure, I would like you to join the seven swordsmen who will call themselves the Eight Swordsmen if you accept." Mei announced to her friend.

"But I can't … I'm ..." Naruto tried to speak.

"Before you say no please listen to me. What I proposed is a honorary position, I would have loved for you to really join us but I know where your heart is. What I want is for you to become the eighth blade of Kirigakure, it is the highest rank I can give to one of my shinobi. You would have the same authority and power of all the seven other members but still be a Konoha shinobi." Mei explained.

"Why would you bestow such a powerful position to me ? I am a nobody, most of my own village hates and fears me ..." Asked an incredulous Naruto.

"You are our savior, we won't be satisfied with anything less Naruto-kun. Don't worry, we will also officially open negotiations for peace and alliance with Konoha but the people of Kirigakure want you to become one of them, even if it is only a honorary position." Mei replied.

"Then I will also honor your people by becoming the Eighth Blade of Kirigakure." Naruto announced as he bowed again in front of Mei.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, now I know that you want to go back to the Leaf as soon as possible. The doctors said that you were good to go but I would advise you to pass one last night here and then leave tomorrow." Mei said with a smile.

"I think I'll follow your advice Mei-chan, I'll visit the village since I've never been here before and then tomorrow morning I'll head back to Konoha." The blond replied before leaving her office.

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><p><strong>Water Country – Eastern Island<strong>

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><p>At the same moment, in a deserted island to the east of Kirigakure, Hidan and Kakuzu were slowly getting out of a thick forest, with Hidan holding the body of a young man over his shoulder.<p>

"Damn, that one sure was a pain with his strange bubble techniques." Whined the silver haired man.

"It is your own fault, saying that you could take him out alone, you idiot." Replied his partner.

"I've never said anything about the other two though ! You could have prevented those two pests from interfering in the fight, you know !" Yelled Hidan.

"It's not like they could kill you anyway, what are you complaining about." Calmly said Kakuzu.

"You let them escape ! And that damn jinchuriki stopped me from following them too, Jashin-sama will have your soul, I promise you !" Hidan continued to rant.

"The jinchuriki was the only one with a value, the other two were worthless." Replied Kakuzu.

"There you go again with the money …" Hidan said.

"Just shut up and let's go get our next target." Kakuzu continued.

"How will we get him, you said that he was protected by his army." Hidan asked.

"It seems the rebellion won the war, they won't take the risk of killing him since it could release the three tailed beast within him. They will transfer him to somewhere safe, when the time comes we will get him." Replied his partner.

"Why the hell am I the one carrying this one anyway ?" Yelled Hidan.

"You're the one who defeated him so you're responsible for him, until we deliver him to the leader." Kakuzu replied.

"You're lucky I can't kill you, bastard." Hidan said as he moved on.

"The lucky one is you." Kakuzu said as they both disappeared again in the darkness.

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><p><strong>Kirigakure – Main Gates<strong>

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><p>Naruto exited from his hotel at dawn and made his way to the village's gates. The streets were empty, he still remembered visiting the village yesterday and how everyone treated him with respect and admiration. He wondered if the time would come for him to one day receive the same kind of treatment in Konoha. He absentmindedly made his way to the gates, lost in his thoughts he didn't notice until he was close that he wasn't alone.<p>

Naruto's eyes widened when he looked up, in front of him and the gates stood Mei, Ao, Chojuro, Zabuza, Haku and almost every villager of Kirigakure. They all wanted to say goodbye to their savior.

"Take care of yourself, Naruto-kun." Said Mei as she kissed him on his cheek, again causing Natsuki to curse in the seal.

"I will Mei-chan, you too take good care of your people." Naruto replied to the red head.

"I'm sorry I was rude to you when we first met, Naruto." Said Ao as he bowed down.

"It's forgotten already Ao, you only did your job." Naruto reassured him.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Naruto-san." Shyly said Chojuro.

"You are a member of the Eight Swordsmen too Chojuro, be more confident in yourself !" Said Naruto with determination in his voice to show the young swordsman the way.

"Be careful on your way back Naruto-kun." Haku said.

"Don't worry, I will. I'm not so easily taken down, you can ask Yagura." Naruto said with a smirk.

"You better not screw up Gaki, now that you're a member of the Eight Swordsmen, even an unofficial one, your actions reflect on us all, don't forget it." Zabuza said seriously.

"You can rest assured that I will never tarnish the name of the Swordsmen of Kirigakure." Naruto replied.

And with that Naruto left the village of the Hidden Mist, under the cheers of the crowd and the smiles of his newest friends.

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>Tsunade was not having a good day, she was not one to believe in superstition but today she kept having strange things happening to her.<p>

First she broke her favorite mirror while fixing her make up in the morning. Then when she arrived at her office, she dropped her favorite sake cup on the floor and it broke in several pieces. Finally when she was about to go out to get lunch, she accidentally pushed away a picture of her, Jiraya and Naruto away from her desk, making it fall to the ground.

It was now the afternoon and she had finished most of the paperwork she had to do for the day. Shizune suddenly entered her office, trying to catch her breath. Apparently she had a scroll for Tsunade from the Mizukage. With only Shizune and her knowing about Naruto's latest mission, they were both anxious at the content of the scroll.

"_Is Naruto-kun alright, I hope his mission is a success."_ Thought Shizune.

"_It's too soon, something must have gone wrong. I hope Yagura didn't catch him." _Were Tsunade's thoughts.

The Hokage verified that the scroll had the seal of the Mizukage and then opened it. As she scanned the content of the letter, both hers and her disciple's eyes widened.

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><p>"<em>Dear Hokage-dono,<em>

_It is with great pleasure that I send you this scroll to announce that the civil war in Kirigakure is finally over. I am Terumi Mei, former leader of the rebellion and the one who sent Haku and Chojuro to Konoha to enlist the help of one of your shinobi to help us win this war. From now on I am the new Mizukage of the Kirigakure village._

_Your subordinate served you and us well, his participation was a key factor in our victory against Yagura and his forces. He is leaving Kiri today and shall arrive in Konoha in a few days._

_We would like to formally open negotiations with Konoha about alliance and peace treaties. Please find sealed inside this scroll a small show of our gratitude towards your village and this shinobi you sent._

_Regards._

_Terumi Mei, Godaime Mizukage of Kirigakure."_

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><p>"He did it, that damn brat did it. In only two weeks he helped them win the war, I can't believe it." Tsunade said.<p>

"What's sealed in the scroll Tsunade-sama ?" Asked a curious Shizune.

Tsunade used chakra and unsealed the item that was sealed inside the scroll Mei sent, both master and disciple's eyes widened again when they saw what the item was, the new edition of the bingo book …

Setting aside the _déjà vu_, Shizune opened the book to the S-Rank section and showed Naruto's profile to her master. It read:

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><p><strong>Name: <strong>Uzumaki Naruto

**Nickname : **Konoha's Kaze No Kami

Kiri's Eighth Blade

**Age : **16

**Rank : **S

**Status : **Jonin

**Attributes: **Kenjutsu(S), Ninjutsu(S), Genjutsu(S), Taijutsu(A) and Fuinjutsu(A)

**Affinities : **Wind

**Bloodline : **Unknown

**Description : **Has a very high affinity to the Wind element

Sage of the mythical Dragon summoning contract

Casts unbreakable genjutsu

Member of Kirigakure's Eight Swordsmen

**Defeated** A-Rank Kiri Nukenin Momochi Zabuza the Kirigakure No Kijin

**Defeated** Sabaku no Gaara the Suna's Ichibi Jinchuriki

**Defeated** S-Rank Konoha Nukenin Uchiha Itachi the Sharingan Prodigy

**Defeated** S-Rank Iwa Nukenin Deidara the Mad Bomber

**Defeated** S-Rank Kiri Yondaime Mizukage Yagura the Sanbi's Jinchuriki

**Action : **Kill on sight

**Bounty :** 100,000,000 Ryo in Iwa and Ame

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><p>"They removed the bounty on his head from Kiri." Analyzed Shizune.<p>

"That's not all, it says _Member of Kirigakure's Eight Swordsmen_, and his stats have been upped again ..." Tsunade added.

"Well isn't he already a S-Ranked shinobi, why is it important ?" Asked Shizune.

"You may not know about it since their profiles have long been removed from the book, as they are all dead, but there is another rank above S-Ranked shinobi like Naruto or me. In Konoha only one man ever reached that rank, Namikaze Minato, Konoha's Kiroi Senko and SS-Ranked shinobi with a Flee on sight order." Tsunade told her disciple.

"So Naruto-kun may one day reached that level if he continues to improve ?" Demanded the brunette, worried about her surrogate little brother.

"I don't know Shizune … I don't know." Tsunade replied.

They were about to close the book when the ground shook, looking outside the Hokage and her disciple could see Gamabunta, Jiraya's summon. With him was a smaller toad, Fukasaku the elder.

"What are you doing here Fukasaku-sama ? Where is the pervert ?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm afraid I am the bearer of bad news Tsunade-chan ..." Fukasaku replied.

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><p><strong>AN:** What do you think ?

Naruto's status in Kiri is something I'd like to try, I don't think I read somewhere else of Naruto being affiliated to two villages, even if his second position isn't an official one per say. It nevertheless gives him a huge load of military power in Kirigakure as well as political power in Konoha.

New Bingo book edition, obviously Kiri would not keep their bounty on Naruto's head after his good deeds for them ;)

We'll see how it goes with the rest of Konoha and especially the council the next time.

I'll give you all a New Year Cookie if you can guess what news Fukasaku came to announce …

As usual please Read and Review.

Last chapter beat all my previous records in terms of reviews per chapter, dunno if it's because I didn't release a chapter in 3 days due to the new year festivities or because you really liked it :)


	30. Prophecy

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Apparently lots of you wanted the New Year Cookie, it was a pretty easy question, considering the previous author notes I wrote but someone still guessed wrong. More on that inside this chapter.<p>

The Eighth Swordsman thing was well received, it's not something I invented though, I've read some stories with that idea as the main point of the plot and decided to use it for my story as well, while keeping Naruto's official affiliation to Konoha of course.

With this chapter, the story now goes into the prestigious 'more than 100,000 words' category. This is definitely a nice step for my first story ever.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 30: Prophecy<strong>

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><p><strong>Konoha – Main Gates<strong>

It only took two days for Naruto to come back to Konoha from Kiri, he decided to use one of his dragon summon transporter to travel instead of taking a boat when he left. Now that he was finally back in front of Konoha's Gates, he wanted to go back to his compound and continue his search for his father's notes on the **Shiki Fuujin** as soon as possible.

He could tell that even if Natsuki didn't say anything about it, she was starting to feel quite frustrated, if her reaction to Mei teasing him was a good indication. He was however disappointed that Jiraya didn't have more information on the seal, his only hope now was to find his father research on it.

Even though freeing Natsuki was his main goal, he also knew that the **Shiki Fuujin** was somehow related to his current problem concerning his power growth. To unlock the next level of his bloodline, he needed to be able to use more youki than the seal currently allowed him to. His fight with Yagura made him realize that he was still too weak. He would not be able to defeat more than one opponent of Yagura's level at the same time. He knew that Akatsuki always had two members moving together for their missions, he was terrified at the thought of them hurting Natsuki because he was too weak to protect her.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he reached the checkpoint, the chunin guard Izumo told him that he needed to immediately go see Tsunade at her office. It was starting to become a routine for Naruto to be summoned in Tsunade's office as soon as he set foot in Konoha after a long mission. Consequently, he absentmindedly made his way to the Hokage tower without further delay.

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><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>Naruto entered Tsunade's office to see her seated behind her desk, talking to a small toad in front of her. Shizune, who had been surprisingly quiet when she saw him, was right next to him and closed the doors to her master's office behind her.<p>

"I'm back Tsunade Ba-chan, my mission is accomplished." Naruto loudly said.

"I already know Naruto, the Mizukage sent me a scroll earlier. I will read your mission report later but for now there's someone you need to meet." Tsunade replied in a low voice.

"Sure, who is it ? And what's with the old toad ? I thought you were summoning slugs while Ero-sennin was the one summoning the toads." Naruto said, taking a better look at Tsunade's 'guest'.

"Watch your mouth Naruto ! He is one of the two Elder Toad Sage Fukasaku-sama, from Mount Myoboku." Tsunade yelled.

"I see, please forgive me for my rudeness. What do you need me for and where is Jiraya-sensei ?" Naruto replied while bowing to Fukasaku.

"So this young man here is Jiraya's last student ?" Fukasaku asked, his eyes analyzing Naruto.

"Yes, Fukasaku-sama. This is Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, another one of your previous summoner and our Fourth Hokage. Naruto traveled the world with Jiraya for three years and was also taught by him during that time. However, he already had another summon contract with the dragon clan from his mother's side so he never signed the Toad contract, much to Jiraya's regret." Tsunade replied.

"I see, there is no easy way to say this but … Jiraya is dead Naruto." Replied the Elder Toad Sage.

"What ..." Naruto was stunned, unable to process the information.

"Naruto-kun ..." Shizune put a hand on his shoulder but he just stood there, unmoving and lost in his thoughts.

"How ?" He said, regaining his composure after some time.

Fukasaku then told him everything. Jiraya was spotted not too long after infiltrating Amegakure, he fought against an Akatsuki members but couldn't tell if one of them was the leader of the mysterious group or not.

The opponent possessed the Rinnegan, a legendary doujutsu said to be directly inherited from the Sage of the Six Path himself. The most surprising fact was that not one but six shinobi with the Akatsuki robes had the Rinnegan.

Jiraya used everything in his arsenal to fight them, going as far as summoning the Two Elder Toad Sages in battle. He could somehow discover that one of them only used summoning techniques and another one could deflect or absorb ninjutsu techniques. Jiraya managed to catch the one using summons in one of his Toad Trap jutsu as well as a random shinobi from Amegakure who knew a little about them. Their bodies were currently in the toad's possession.

Jiraya could have fled but in the end, he chose to stay and fight. He made an important discovery at the last moment but his throat was instantly crushed by his opponent, before he could voice his finding. On his last breath, Jiraya was able to carve a coded message on Fukasaku's back using chakra before the Akatsuki members silenced him forever.

"That's how it happened, I was right there with him until the end." Said Fukasaku as he finished his story.

Naruto couldn't handle it, he felt like he was suffocating, he needed to get out of Tsunade's office. He abruptly left the room without saying anything, Shizune tried to stop him but Tsunade told her to let him go.

"Leave him be Shizune, he needs to have a moment alone." Tsunade said.

"I can see is his eyes that he really cared about Jiraya." Fukasaku added.

"I'm sorry Fukasaku-sama, I know you wanted to tell him more about the Prophecy but he wasn't in the right state of mind." Tsunade replied.

"It's quite alright Tsunade, I'll come back again tomorrow." The elder toad said before he left the room too.

Shizune decided to go back to her duties and left Tsunade alone in her office, the blonde Hokage then sealed the room. Finally alone, she stopped holding back her emotions and shed her first tears in a very long time. The pervert died without ever knowing how much he really meant to her, she was too stubborn to admit her feelings for him, and now it was too late.

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto aimlessly wandered Konoha's streets for hours before he arrived inside Training Ground Seven. It was not used anymore since Kakashi's Team had been disbanded after Uchiha Sasuke's betrayal. Naruto stopped in front of the Memorial Stone, a large stone tablet where Konoha's heroes names were carved for eternity. The last addition was what caught his attention, it was his master's name. He just starred at it for several minutes without moving.<p>

"I had a feeling I'd find you here." Said a voice from behind Naruto.

"It's been a long time, Jiji." Naruto replied to his surrogate grandfather.

"How are you doing my boy ?" Asked Sarutobi.

"Not so good Jiji, I assume you've been told about Ero-sennin." Naruto said with a sad voice.

"Yes I learned about Jiraya. I guess I also came here to collect my thoughts about my former student." Replied the Sandaime Hokage.

"And how is it going on your end ?" Naruto asked without looking at the old man.

"Not so good either, I'm afraid. I only took one genin team in my long shinobi career, Jiraya is the first student that I lost. I feel that it shouldn't be that way, students aren't supposed to die before their sensei ..." Sarutobi said.

"It's all my fault, Jiji. I should have insisted to go with him when we split in Kusagakure. I knew it was a dangerous mission, I could have helped him against that Akatsuki member. Akatsuki … it's my fault again that we're investigating them in the first place, if it wasn't for me, Ero-sennin would have never fought them to the extend of losing his life in order to discover their weakness ..." Naruto said with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Sarutobi gently put a hand on his surrogate grandson's shoulder and then spoke to him.

"Naruto, even though losing a student is new to me, I also lost both of my sensei when I was younger so I can somehow understand your train of thoughts right now." The old man started.

"First of all, I'm sure Jiraya told you that the Amegakure mission was an infiltration one, that means that he had more chance to success by working alone. Furthermore, nothing about Akatsuki is your fault Naruto-kun, you are also a victim, you never chose to have the Kyuubi sealed in you." He continued.

"Finally, I think I understand what motivated Jiraya in his fight against the Akatsuki member, it is true that he could have easily fled the area with his skills but he chose to remain. He knew that a confrontation against such a foe would have certainly resulted in death for anyone who would have come unprepared. He decided to stay and gather everything he could in order for you to win the fight next time against that enemy." The Sandaime finished.

"Me … I don't know what to do anymore." Naruto said.

"I have no doubt that the encrypted message he left with Fukasaku-sama was for you. Teachers always try to leave something behind for their students when they die. Before Tobirama-sensei died, he entrusted his Will of Fire to me. I'm sure Jiraya did the same with you Naruto." The old man replied with a smile while remembering his own teacher's last words.

"_Saru, protect those who love the village and those who believe in you and nurture those to whom you can entrust the next generation. Starting tomorrow, you are the Hokage!"_

Naruto then remembered a conversation he had with Jiraya during their training, trip three years ago as Jiraya's words flashed in his mind.

"_Even I can see there's too much hate in our ninja world. And I wanted to do something about this hatred, yet I'm not sure what must be done. But I have faith that there will come a time when people can truly understand one another. And if I can't find the answer, perhaps I will entrust you to find it."_

Naruto then clenched his right hand fist and raised it to the sky, "I'll find a way, I promise you Jiraya-sensei." he yelled.

"Thanks Jiji, I think I know what do do now." The blond said before he used **Shunshin** to leave.

Sarutobi then looked back at the Memorial Stone and stopped his eyes on two other names, Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato.

"_You would be both so proud of him, Minato, Kushina."_ Thought the old man before he slowly made his way back to his home.

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><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

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><p>That night, when Naruto arrived in his family compound, he was physically and mentally exhausted. On his way back, he had met Iruka who invited him to go eat ramen but the blond was not really in the mood. Naruto simply got inside his room, took a shower and then went to bed. There was only one person he wanted to be with right now, and he was currently making his way to her house.<p>

**Mindscape**

Naruto joined Natsuki in his mindscape, the vixen was patiently waiting for him in front of her house. When she saw him approach, she ran straight to him and embraced him in a warm hug. Naruto was the one who broke the hug and spoke first.

"Hey Na-chan, I know you're still mad at me about the kiss thing with Mei but I really wanted to see you tonight." Naruto said in a low tone.

"**Shh, it's alright now. I'm not mad at you at all, I was just frustrated that she could hold you in the real world while I can't."** Replied the vixen.

"I'll resume my research on the seal as soon as possible, missions be damned, Ba-chan won't be able to force me to take any additional mission until I find my father's notes on the **Shiki Fuujin**, even if I have to use my clan head privileges for that." Naruto told her.

"**Freeing me is not the most important thing right now, you have to discover what Jiraya wanted to say in his dying message."** Natsuki said back to him. She saw the sadness in his eyes when she mentioned his master.

The red head then took his arm and pulled him inside the house. They made their way to her room and she then went to her bed and pulled him close to her. She smiled when she felt his arms around her as Naruto pulled her into a tight hug.

"I love you Na-chan, I wish we could stay like this forever." Naruto whispered in her ears.

"**I love you too Naru-kun, that will never change. We still our whole lives in front of us, you need to focus on defeating the Akatsuki first. To do that you need to decrypt your master's last words."** Natsuki said.

"I will, but not tonight. I just want to hold you in my arms tonight." Naruto replied.

They fell asleep like that, in each other's arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto arrived in Tsunade's office the next afternoon with Shikamaru and Shiho, a scientist working for the Decryption department of Konoha's Intel Division. They took the entire morning to crack the codded message that Jiraya left behind for Naruto. Turns out the pervert used his own book as a reference for Naruto to be the only one to understand his message. It said : '<em>The real one is not among them.'<em>

Fukasaku was there too but the message still seemed to vague for him to know what Jiraya actually meant.

The elder toad then decided to reveal to Naruto the Great Prophecy Jiraya was told.

"A long time ago, when Jiraya-chan was still as young as you are right now, the Great Sage announced that he would journey all over the world, writing books. He would then one day take an apprentice, and that apprentice would later either become the savior or the destroyer of the world." Fukasaku said.

"And you think that I'm the one mentioned in this Prophecy ?" Asked Naruto.

"There's no doubt about it, you are Jiraya's last living apprentice. He believed in you and sacrificed his life for you to defeat Akatsuki. We, of the Toad clan, will believe in you too. I'm sure that you are the one who will become the Savior of this world." Fukasaku said.

And with that, the Elder Toad left Konoha. Since Jiraya did not chose and train a successor to be the next toad summoner, Konoha just lost one of its most powerful summoning contract.

* * *

><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

* * *

><p>Akatsuki was meeting again in one of those dark cave they usually use. The giant sealing statue was there too. In front of it were the five corps of their victims.<p>

"That's the last of them, good work everyone. You all accomplished your missions and brought back your designated targets." The leader said.

"It was a piece of cake, the Rokubi jinchuriki had some nice moves but in the end he stood no chance against our immortal powers. The Sanbi was even easier, apparently the Kyuubi brat took him down at the request of the rebels, we just waited for them to transfer him to a secure place to kidnap him." Hidan bragged.

"Everything went as I anticipated, we used his fame against him." The leader replied.

"What now ?" Zetsu asked.

"You will continue to monitor the remaining jinchuriki from afar. Don't let them notice you. Everyone else is on standby until further notice." The leader announced.

They all left after that and the leader dispelled the **Gedo Mazo** before disappearing in the darkness himself.

* * *

><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

* * *

><p>It had been a week since Naruto came back. He was still searching the house for his father's notes. He already verified every corner of the library room ten times, and he was getting more and more desperate.<p>

"**Maybe you are looking at this from the wrong point of view. Are you sure the library room was the only place your father would have been working inside when he developed his techniques ?"** Natsuki asked.

"If we follow your reasoning, those notes could be everywhere inside the compound, and it's pretty damn huge." Naruto replied.

"**It must have been his latest work since it's not inside the library."** Natsuki added.

"Then it should have taken place close to my day of birth. Where would he work during those days ?" Naruto said.

"**If he's anything like you, I doubt he would have left the mother of his future child out of his sight for long."** Natsuki supplied.

"If that's the case then there's only one room where they would most likely pass those days." Naruto said as his eyes widened.

Naruto ran straight into his parent's bedroom, it was a room that he left untouched since he arrived. Inside the room was a huge bed, lockers and a small desk in a corner of the room. There was no visible trace of his father ever using the desk but Naruto decided to inspect it anyway.

Finding nothing out of the ordinary, Naruto sat down behind the desk and tried to imagine himself working there. He closed his eyes for a second and then he suddenly stood up, he looked at the desk again, and then he found it. A seal was carved under the desk, it was a blood seal again.

As he unlocked the seal, a poof of smoke appeared on the table, revealing what he had been looking for since he came into this house, his father's notes on the **Shiki Fuujin**.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : ** What do you think ?

Jiraya's fate, told in a small summary by the toads as suggested by some of you when I previously asked.

Naruto's reaction to the news and how he overcame his sadness, I bet most of you forgot the old man was still alive and kicking.

Had to go watch again the manga to find Jirya's and Tobirama's dying wishes for their students.

Pain's plan seems to go well, they only have four targets left out of the nine. How will they move next ?

Naruto finally found the notes on his seal, how will he solve his youki control problems ?

You'll have to read the next chapters to know :)

As usual Read and Review please.


	31. The Key

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>This is the moment a lot of you have been waiting for, or how the hell am I gonna have Naruto free Natsuki if he doesn't have the Key to the <strong>Shiki Fuujin<strong>. Since he didn't sign the Toad contract with Jiraya, many assumed it would be impossible for him to get it. I was quite surprised no one guessed how I would do it. Well, let's see how it goes then.

Sorry I've been updating less regularly as of late, work finally picked up with the new year and I have less time to write during the week. I'll try to publish more this weekend.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 31: The Key<strong>

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><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

Naruto sat in the library room, he felt safe there inside the sealed room that only his blood could bypass. In front of him, on a desk, were the notes his father left on the **Shiki Fuujin**. After a first reading of the scroll's content, Naruto had to admit that it was the pinnacle of the sealing arts. Its complexity was pushed to a level no one has ever reached before. The young Namikaze clan head had to thank Jiraya again for his teachings, for without him Naruto would have never been able to even comprehend how incredible that particular seal his father made is.

He had in the past already studied his fair share of high level sealing jutsu, through the Uzumaki Clan Scroll. Developing the youki converting seal he currently had above his heart was also achieved from upgrading an old Uzumaki sealing jutsu. Judging from the notes he had before his eyes, Naruto could tell his father was a genius when it came to fuinjutsu techniques.

The **Shiki Fuujin** was designed to store half of Natsuki's youki inside Minato, the caster, while the other half was sealed inside the target, Naruto. However, like everything on Earth, there is a way to counter balance the seal, the Key. It was created at the same time the seal was formed and has the ability to open the lock of the seal without instantly killing Naruto in the process.

"That's it ! The reason I never could access more than five tails of your power, I only house half of your youki Na-chan." Naruto said.

"**That makes sense, no matter how you look at it, you were too young and fragile at the time for your father to seal all of my youki inside you."** Replied Natsuki.

"I need to find out what my father did with that Key though. According to the notes he shouldn't have had the time to really go far away with it since the jutsu cost him his life as soon as the process was complete." Naruto added.

"**Then the only possible explanation is that he gave it to someone trustworthy who was also there that night."** Natsuki continued.

"Jiji was there that night ! He was the one who took me back to the village, my father must have entrusted the Key to him." Naruto said as he stood up and made his way out of the room.

"**What are you planning to do ?"** Asked the vixen.

"I'll go to the old man's family compound and ask him about it." Naruto replied.

"**What will you tell him ? I thought you said he would be against you experimenting on the seal."** Natsuki asked.

"Just the truth, Jiji already knows about you anyway and I think we can trust him with the plan to save you and upgrade my power to the last level of the bloodline." Naruto replied as he went out of his house and ran to the Sarutobi Clan Compound.

* * *

><p><strong>Sarutobi Compound<strong>

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><p>The old man's compound was not very far from his own house, Naruto had only been there once in the past when he was running away from a mob of civilian trying to harm him, the Sandaime found him in the streets and brought him inside his house.<p>

As he arrived, Naruto saw Hiruzen tending to his plants in the garden.

"Hey Jiji, how are you doing ?" Naruto asked.

"I'm fine my boy, what are you doing here ?" The former Kage replied.

"I need to speak with you about something personal, can we go to a secure place to talk about it ?" Naruto said with a serious tone.

"Sure follow me inside." Hiruzen said as he went inside his manor, Naruto followed shortly after him.

They went through the manor, the Sandaime then finally stopped inside a huge room, it was the family dojo. When Naruto entered the room suddenly glowed, signaling that his Jiji just sealed it.

"This should be good enough, we can freely talk here, I often used this room when I trained or developed new jutsu in secrecy and the seal is as powerful as the one in the Hokage office." The old man said getting a nod from Naruto.

"Thanks Jiji, now I'll go straight to the point, I found my father's notes on the **Shiki Fuujin**." Announced the blond jonin.

"I see, what can I do for you ? Surely you know better than me about fuinjutsu nowadays, I'm no beginner but it was never my forte either." Replied Hiruzen.

Naruto sighed, judging from his reaction, the old man was obviously not aware of the existence of the Key. Naruto decided to trust his instinct and told him the whole story anyway, the Key, what he needed it for and his previous assumptions about its whereabouts.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I was indeed there the night of the attack sixteen years ago but Minato never entrusted me with this Key you speak about. When I found you, after the barrier your father used dispelled, there was nothing that looked like a Key." Hiruzen told him.

"If it's not you then who ? Ero-sennin was not there that night, he told me he was in a spying mission at the time. My mother died that day too so it cannot be her either." Naruto analyzed out loud.

Hiruzen replayed the scene in his head, from the moment everyone in the village heard the explosion noises caused by the rampaging Kyuubi to the moment when Minato appeared on the battlefield, riding on top of Gamabunta.

"Of course ! How could I forget ! Another ally was also there with your father that night, when he arrived on the battlefield, he was on top of his toad summon, Gamabunta." Hiruzen said.

"Then it's the toads, they have it ! Thank you so much Jiji, now I know where to look for the Key." Naruto added with a smile.

"Do you, now ? May I remind you that since you didn't sign the toad contract, you lost the only chance you had to contact them when Fukasaku-sama left." The Sandaime replied. Naruto's eyes widened, he completely forgot about that.

Seeing his surrogate grandson sad face, Hiruzen chuckled and then spoke again.

"Well there's still a way to get to them even without their contracts, I'm not sure whether it will work or not though." The Sandaime said.

"Really ? Please tell me Jiji." Naruto pleaded.

"I've heard stories about the summon creatures that we call into our world with the summoning contracts, a legend says that they all come from the same world. It is a sealed place only accessible via summoning or reverse summoning techniques. If it's true, then I assume that this summoning world must be divided in area where each type of summon creature rule over one area. The ruler of the Monkey clan is Enma while the one from the Toad clan is Gamabunta and finally the Dragon King is Ryuoh. Each of them controls an area of that summon world." Sarutobi explained.

"So if I could somehow able to convince the Dragon King to help me, then I may still be able to reach the Toad's realm !" Naruto finally said getting a nod from the Sandaime.

The blond then left and made his way towards his own home.

* * *

><p><strong>Otogakure – Underground Base<strong>

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><p>It had been three weeks since Kabuto started the preparations for his master's soul transfer jutsu. During that time, the snake's health just kept getting worse, as Naruto's <strong>Rasenshuriken<strong> damages were spreading inside his body. Orochimaru had been bedridden ever since they came back from the fight with Naruto and Jiraya in Kusagakure.

"I have good news my lord, the preparations are finally over for your soul transfer technique." Announced Kabuto as he came into the room.

"Good, have you poisoned his food and water as planed too ?" Replied the sannin.

"Yes the first symptoms shall appear when you confront him." Kabuto said with a smirk.

"Kukuku, the moment of my resurrection has finally come, today I shall obtain the Sharingan." Orochimaru said.

"I will summon Sasuke to your room immediately then." Kabuto said as he left his master's room.

As Kabuto reached the door of his master's room he stopped right outside, in the corridor. The medic then knelt to the ground and bowed his head down in front of a person.

"Is everything ready Kabuto ?" Asked the shadow.

"Yes my lord, Orochimaru has been fed the poison as you ordered and he won't put much of a fight. His body has now been weakened to the max from his last fight, to the extend that he can barely channel any chakra anymore." Kabuto replied.

"What about the other bases and their commanders ?" The mysterious voice asked again.

"They have all been killed and replaced by new commanders, loyal to you only my Lord." Kabuto informed him.

"How long do I have once you activate the temporary counter seal to his curse seal ?" Asked the voice.

"You will have one hour before he can use the seal against you again." Kabuto replied.

"Alright, stay here. I will go deal with Orochimaru once and for all." The shadow said as he slowly moved out of the dark corner and his face was finally visible.

"Yes Uchiha-sama." Kabuto said, still knelling in front of his new master.

"**Chidori Eiso !"** Sasuke said as a lightning beam left his extended hand and went through the wall of Orochimaru's room.

The lightning spear pierced Orochimaru's body and the sannin started to bleed profusely.

As Sasuke went inside the room to finish his opponent, Orochimaru tried to use the curse seal to force Sasuke to obey him but it didn't work.

"Surprised that your little seal doesn't work anymore ?" Sasuke taunted.

"How ..." Asked Orochimaru as he felt his body go numb, most likely from the lightning spear that pierced his upper body.

"You should really pay more attention to your subordinates, and to never trust someone who already betrayed his last master to join you." The Uchiha replied.

"So you betrayed me too … Kabuto." Slowly said the snake sennin as he tried to play his last card.

Orochimaru tried to summon his last forces and go for the jutsu anyway but it failed, whatever Kabuto gave him during those three weeks, it was not healing him, quite the opposite.

"You should start feeling it now, you have been fed with the poison you planned to use on Uchiha-sama. Now you have no more chakra and no energy left either." Kabuto said as he entered the room too.

"Why ?" Asked Orochimaru.

"You wanna know why ? You've changed, you're not the strong person you were in the past anymore. Lately every plan you set in motion ended in failure. I've decided to follow a stronger man, your era is over, you will now join your ex teammate in the afterlife." Replied the medic shinobi.

Before Orochimaru could reply again, Sasuke took the Kusanagi that was laying on the floor besides the snake's bed and cut off his head.

"I did not come here to hear your talk with your former master, I am the new leader here now. Clean this up and go gather everyone." Said Sasuke as he made his way out of the room.

"Yes Uchiha-sama." Said Kabuto as he looked back at the retreating form of the Nidaime Otokage.

* * *

><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

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><p>Naruto was inside his compound's walls, in his personal training ground. He went through hand signs and called his jutsu.<p>

"**Ninpo : Kuchiyose no jutsu !"** He yelled while slamming his hands on the floor.

As the smoke generated from the summoning jutsu settled down, Hiryu the fire dragon made its appearance.

"**What can I do for you today, Naruto-sama ?"** Asked the dragon.

"I need to speak with Ryuoh-sama, could you ask him to reverse summon me to your realm please ?" Naruto replied.

"**Very well, Naruto-sama. I will go inform our King of your request."** The dragon said back, then it dispelled itself.

Naruto forgot to ask how long it would take for Hiryu to actually get an audience with its leader. The blond was about to get back inside his house when he disappeared in a poof of smoke himself.

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><p><strong>Summon World – Dragon's Realm<strong>

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><p>Naruto reappeared in a familiar place, the mountain where he met Ryuoh the Dragon King for the first time when he signed the contract three years ago.<p>

"**What can I do for you Naruto ?"** Asked the Ryuoh as the Dragon King landed right in front of the blond.

Naruto bowed down as he greeted the leader of the dragons, then he told him the reason of his visit.

"**Yes you have been well informed, all the summoned creature come from this world. They all belong to one of the numerous lands like the one we're currently in."** Ryuoh announced, making the blond in front of him smile.

"Then can you show me the way to the Toad's area ?" Naruto asked.

"**You are very lucky that the Toad are a part of the alliance we the Dragon Clan belong to. Had it not been the case I would have not been able to help you in meeting them. It is usually highly forbidden for us to bring our summoner out of our area of control."** Replied Ryuoh.

"Thank you for your help, I will immediately take my leave then." Naruto said as he called Hiryu.

* * *

><p><strong>Summon World - Toad's Area<strong>

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><p>It took two hours from the Dragon's Realm to reach the Area of the Toad Clan for Naruto and Hiryu. As soon as they landed, the moment Naruto's foot reach the ground, they were surrounded by Toads.<p>

"**Identify yourselves ! What does a dragon do here, with a human no less ?" **Asked one of the toads.

"**Shut up Gamatatsu ! They are the guests that came to visit us as the Great Elder Sage has predicted."** Yelled another toad.

"**Sorry Gamakichi, I've never seen a human before, I was a bit scarred."** Replied the first toad.

Naruto was about to yell at both of them to stop arguing with each other when a familiar voice spoke.

"**Shut up both of you ! What are you doing here Naruto-chan ?"** Asked Fukasaku as he appeared on the scene and dismissed all the other toads.

"I came to ask you about something my father may have entrusted one of you the day of my birth, he calls it the Key in his notes. It's important, I really need to know who my father summoned among the toads on that day." Naruto explained.

"**I see, you are correct in your assumption that your father entrusted us with the protection of the Key. However, just because he was your father, we won't give you the Key until you can prove that you deserve it."** Replied the Elder Toad.

"I understand, what do I need to do in order to prove that I deserve it ?" Asked Naruto respectfully.

"**Come with me, Our Great Elder Sage foresaw your arrival, riding on one of our allies from the Dragon Clan. Listen very carefully when we reach his place, he will reveal to you your destiny."** Added Fukasaku.

"Did Ero-sennin had his fate revealed to him in the same manner I'm about to ?" Naruto asked.

"**Yes Jiraya-chan came here in the past, he had his fate revealed to him in the same manner you are about to in a few moments." **Replied Fukasaku.

"Great ! Then I can't wait to see that Mega Elder Toad that already met Ero-sennin in the past." Naruto said with conviction in his voice.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Naruto learns about the Key in his father's notes and decides to take a trip in Summoning World. The manga was a bit unclear when they said how Jiraya managed to get there so I decided to make up the Summoning world, only reaching it with the summoning contracts.

We got ourselves a new Otokage, the most interesting part about it is who betrayed Orochimaru to allow this to happen. What team will Sasuke form after this ? I'll remind you guys that the emo still haven't reach the Mangekyo Sharingan yet.

What fate will Naruto receive from the Senile Toad, not saying that my Naruto will suddenly believe in the fate crap thing Neji used to speak about when they were younger. Still if he has to do it order to get the Key then he doesn't really care.

As Usual please Read and Review.


	32. Strategy and Preparation

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I apparently managed to surprise most of you with the way last chapter went. I'm glad about that, the story becoming predictable has never been one of my goals. It is also a good thing that you all liked how Naruto found a way to reach the Key despite not having the Toad contract.<p>

Now I know some of you wanted him to be able to sign both contracts with the Toads and the Dragons. I even know that it is perfectly possible since canon Sasuke apparently has both the Hawks and Snakes contracts. However, I like Naruto being able to surpass everyone with just one set of skills, like only using the Futon elemental affinity.

Finally, yes, Otogakure will play a bigger role from now on in the story. You will see how it affects Konoha and the other nations too in the future chapters.

Releasing a chapter per day has become quite hard, not due to writer's block though. I'm just having quite a bit to do in my job as of late, it doesn't let me as much time as I'd like to write. You can expect a new chapter every two to three days for the time being, it is still pretty fast as far as I can observe from other fics I've been following.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 32: Strategy and Preparations<strong>

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><p><strong>Summoning World – Toad's Area<strong>

Naruto followed the Elder Toad Fukasaku as he went into a huge cave. The inside of the cave consisted on an unique room with a throne seat in the center and two smaller seats on each side. Fukasaku took one of the two seats while the other one was already occupied by another small Toad like him, a female one, most likely his wife. On the center Naruto saw a much larger Toad, probably the Great Elder Sage that was going to reveal his destiny to him.

"Naruto-chan, here is my wife Shima, the other one of the two Elder Sages of Mount Myoboku. In the center is our Great Elder Sage, the oldest and wisest of us all and also the one who can read your future." Announced Fukasaku.

"It is a great honor to be introduced to you all but I came here in order to retrieve the Key to the **Hakke no Fuin Shiki** that my father entrusted to you. Fukasaku-sama said that I needed to speak with the Great Elder Sage first." Naruto said trying to be as formal as possible.

"**Hmm, it is great to see you again … Who are you again ?"** Said the Great Sage.

"..." Naruto couldn't say anything.

"This is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Great Elder. You said that he would visit us and that's why I brought him here in the first place." Fukasaku said.

"So this is Jiraya's latest disciple, he really looks like the last one you brought here before him." Shima added.

"**Oh Uzumaki Naruto, yes, I remember now. I have seen a vision about you, are you ready for it ?"** Asked the Great Elder.

"I am ready, please tell me what you saw." Naruto replied.

"**In my vision, I see you fighting in a great battle. The vision isn't clear though, your body is covered by a thick mist and I can't say who your enemy is, all I can see are his eyes, they hold great powers. At the end of the war, you will be given a choice. From your answer the fate of the world will depend, if you chose wrong the world will come to an end."** The Great Elder said, stunning all the others present in the room.

"I see, that's a lot to take in. From my actions, the world can either be saved or come to an end. Did you see anything else in your vision Great Elder ?" Naruto replied.

"**Yes, during your journey you will meet new friends. I see you training with an Octopus and a Cat, they will help you in your future endeavors. I also saw you opening the seal holding back the powers of the Fox."** Was the Sage's reply.

"Meeting an Octopus and a cat, …, that's quite mysterious even for you. So you saw me opening the Seal, does that mean you will give me the Key then ?" Naruto asked.

"**Gerotora, come in here. My vision is absolutely clear on this, you will store the Key in him."** Said the Elder.

Another toad immediately appeared as the Great Sage called him, it was Gerotora, Naruto already saw him once when he was training with Jiraya. It was when the pervert was trying to help him use youki before Naruto had the chakra converting seal.

"So you had the Key, how are we doing this ?" Naruto asked.

The scroll toad opened his body, unrolling the scroll he was holding. Inside was a very complex looking seal with a central square mark at the center. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight, he never expected the 'Key' to be another fuinjutsu scroll.

"You have to put your hand right here inside the square mark and channel chakra through it. Then I will store myself inside your body. You will be able to apply the Key to your seal at the moment of your choice after this, the Key has the power to weaken, strengthen or completely remove the seal." Replied Gerotora.

After that the toad ordered Naruto to open his mouth and directly dived inside. With a well placed kick from Fukasaku and Naruto almost throwing up, the storage operation was a success.

"Now you have the means to tweak the seal as you see fit. I would wait a little bit more if I were you, before completely removing the seal. Think carefully about the location and chose some trustworthy allies to cover for you when you decide to do it." Fukasaku told him.

"Thank you, old toad. You don't need to worry about that, I will remember your words." Naruto said with determination as he made his way out of the room.

His dragon Hiryu was waiting for him outside, ready to leave. After saying goodbye to the toads, Naruto climbed on top of the fire dragon and they flew back in the direction of the Dragon's Realm.

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>Tsunade was currently inside her office, thinking about the latest problem her favorite blond relative had caused. It had been a week since Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto mysteriously disappeared without a trace from the face of Konoha. Tsunade and Shizune, the only two who were allowed access in the less restricted area of the Namikaze Compound found no evidence of his presence. In the living room, a simple note said that he left for training and would be back as soon as possible.<p>

His absence was immediately noted during the weekly council meeting that took place yesterday, everyone saw the Namikaze Clan seat unoccupied. She could not lie about sending him out on a mission since the council had access to the mission reports so she told them that due to internal family affairs he could not join them for that day.

It was a good thing that Konoha's clan had such privilege, no one could question internal family matters of the leading clans seated in the council. The ruse would not work for much longer though, and Naruto had better come back before the next council meeting or they would start to get suspicious. The civilian side of the council, Danzo especially, would not miss the chance to get him removed from the council or worse, mark him as a missing ninja.

During the conversation about the missing Namikaze's clan head, Tsunade could see that her sensei seemed to know something about it. The old man had a smile on his face, Tsunade knew that face, the professor most likely knew about Naruto's whereabouts. It was a good thing, in the sense that if the Sandaime knew about Naruto's location and didn't make a fuss about it, then the younger blond was probably safe, wherever he was. However, Tsunade felt a little hurt too, as a relative she would have preferred if Naruto had warned her about his sudden trip, furthermore as a Hokage she was also entitled to such information.

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><p><strong>Training Ground Seven<strong>

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><p>It was a very calm day for Haruno Sakura, her shift at the hospital ended and she had nothing more to do for the rest of the day. Tsunade's disciple decided to go train herself in her old team seven's training ground.<p>

The pink haired chunin decided to train in her taijutsu style first and went through the movements she learned from Tsunade. Ever since Uchiha Sasuke deserted the Leaf, she took her training very seriously. For three years, she studied under the best medic kunoichi in the elemental nations, becoming one of the best herself after her master and her fellow student Shizune.

When asked about her motivation to become stronger, she always told the same lie, saying that it was for the benefit of Konoha and to help its people. However, deep inside her heart she always knew why she was so focused on her training. She finally understood that if she wanted to have a chance with the Uchiha heir, she needed to have what he seeks in a woman, Power.

She trained for the better part of the afternoon, taking small breaks in order to not strain her body too much. She was about to call it a day and go back to her home when she saw a hawk landing in front of her. Intrigued by the creature's apparent fearless attitude, she closed the distance between them and observed the bird. It had a small message rolled up and attached in its left leg.

After unrolling the paper, the hawk dispelled itself away and she read the content of the message, her eyes widened at what she saw.

_Sakura, I need to speak with you._

_Meet me tonight. I'll find you as soon as you step outside the village's walls._

_Channel chakra into the paper as soon as you're done reading it._

_From Uchiha Sasuke._

Sakura was stunned at what she had in her hands, her conscience and loyalty to her master dictated that she should go to the Hokage Office right now and show Tsunade the paper. Her heart, however, told her to do as said in the message and destroy any evidence of its existence.

She remained at the same spot for quite a long time, lost in her thoughts. She saw herself at the academy, looking at the last Uchiha with love in her eyes. She also saw the hard work she did under Tsunade's tutelage, how fulfilling it felt to finally have someone believe in her.

As Sakura finally came back from her trance, her hand holding the piece of paper with Sasuke's message suddenly glowed blue and the paper disappeared in a small flame then she slowly made her way towards the gates.

That night, Tsunade lost another one of her precious people and the Leaf lost one of its most promising medic kunoichi, as Haruno Sakura easily defeated the two chunin guarding the main gate and disappeared in the darkness of the night.

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><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

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><p>A new gathering of the Akatsuki group was taking place again in their usual setup, dark cave and every member using their long range communication jutsu, though the <strong>Gedo Mazo<strong> statue was not out this time.

"Good, everyone is here. Let's begin the meeting then, Zetsu make your report." The leader said.

"I have continued my spying mission since the last time we all met, as ordered. The remaining targets are the Ichibi, Nibi, Hachibi and Kyuubi. Ichibi and Kyuubi are well aware of our intentions in capturing them and they have not appeared without a good protection insurance ever since. Our best chance for now is to target the other two, the Nibi and Hachibi." Reported Zetsu.

"Knowing the Leaf, they most likely tried to warn Kumo about us, but the Raikage is a prudent and stubborn man. They will not act based on some info sent to them by their old enemy." Uchiha Itachi said in his usual monotonous voice.

"It's a shame we never managed to get a spy inside Kumo, they are highly suspicious of foreigners and watch their borders tightly. Infiltration won't work easily against them but it's still the best option we have so far." Replied the leader.

"Who's going this time ?" Asked an excited Hidan.

"Before that, do you have anything else to report Zetsu ?" Asked the leader.

"Yes, it seems our former member Orochimaru is dead." Answered the spy.

"Who did it ?" Immediately asked Uchiha Itachi.

"It seems your brother managed to surprise the snake. He even turned Kabuto against his former master. Together they plotted Sasuke's takeover of Otogakure, eliminating any obstacle in their path before they finally attacked Orochimaru." Zetsu replied.

"So that slithering freak finally died. A shame really, I wanted to show him who the real immortal is." Added Hidan with a smirk.

"What of his ring ?" The leader asked.

"Neither Kabuto nor Sasuke have been seen wearing it. It seems they don't know its worth or what it really does. It is most likely still inside Orochimaru's former room." Zetsu replied.

"Very well, I have decided of a strategy to follow for the next few weeks. I will give you all your assignments and team placements so listen well, I don't wish to repeat myself." Started the leader.

"Hidan, Kakuzu and Kisame will go to Kumo and capture the Nibi and Hachibi. It is isolated from the rest of the world and unlike Konoha or Suna they aren't really expecting us to make a move against them. Both targets have complete control of their tailed beast, consequently, your mission will require power, that's why I chose these members." He explained first.

"During that time, Itachi, Deidara and Tobi will go to Oto and take back Orochimaru's ring. Same as Kumo, with Orochimaru's death no one in their group will expect us to go against them and more importantly they don't know that we're after the ring. Zetsu with his special ability will assist both groups in information gathering and infiltration. That will be all, dismissed." The leader finished.

With that, every member of the group disappeared in the shadows. The next few weeks will be eventful to say the least.

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><p><strong>Summoning World – Dragon's Realm<strong>

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><p>On the highest mountain of the Dragon's Realm, the young Namikaze Clan head was continuing his training, completely oblivious to the plans, strategies and machinations taking place in the elemental nations during that time.<p>

It was night time already, however the blond was still going on with little trouble. Even the darkness wouldn't stop him from achieving his goals. The Dragon Sight could be seen activated in his eyes, enabling him to perfectly see in the dark.

Another blinding flash and wind wave could be felt through the whole are, most likely preventing every dragon in the area from sleeping. Not that any of them would dare interrupt their summoner, as Ryuoh, the Dragon King himself, was patiently supervising the young Sage's training.

Naruto was suddenly seen flying backwards and crashing into a hard rock. He cursed at something as he slowly stood up again.

"Damn it, I now have enough chakra to perform the final level of my bloodline but the control to achieve it is too damn high !" Yelled the blond to no one in particular.

"**You have to calm yourself down, Naru-kun. With the modifications you made to the seal, you can now call forth all nine tails worth of my youki. It is the double of what you are used to wield so it is perfectly normal that you need to refine your control a little bit more in order to open the final door to our bloodline."** Natsuki said, trying to help him regain his composure.

"I know, thank you for helping me Na-chan." Naruto replied.

The moment Naruto came back from the Toad's area with the Key stored inside himself, he decided to use it to weaken the seal in order to be able to use more youki. He used every precaution possible, evacuating the area to the max and having Ryuoh looking after him in the event he lost himself to his power.

They decided to proceed with caution, only weakening the seal enough each time to only increase the number of tails he could summon by one at a time. After a week of training, Naruto finally reached the ninth and last tail, though his control over it was still quite low.

Natsuki explained to him that to achieve the last level of his bloodline, it required from him the mastery of both the **Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami** and **Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami** at the same time. Naruto could perfectly launch each of his ultimate modes separately, but combining the two seemed impossible to perform for him.

Unlocking the ninth tail should have allowed him to succeed, with each mode consuming four tails of youki while the initial **Muga no Kyouchi **only needed one tail worth of youki. There was nothing wrong mathematically, Naruto just needed more concentration.

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><p><strong>Otogakure – Main Base<strong>

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><p>Sakura slowly opened her eyes, only to find herself in a room she did not recognize.<p>

The last thing she remembered was leaving Konoha in the middle of the night after knocking down the two guards that were posted at the gates. She had been running for fifteen minutes when she heard a sound behind her. Turning back she was expecting to see Sasuke, however the one she saw was a smirking Kabuto before all went dark.

She left the unfamiliar room and made her way in the corridor to another room, wider and with people inside. She immediately saw the object of all her desires, Uchiha Sasuke. He also saw her as he immediately spoke.

"You're finally awake, Sakura. Come with me, there's someone I need you to heal ..."

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><p><strong>AN : **What do yo think ?

The entire world is moving again, Akatsuki is on the move, as is Otogakure. They placed their pawns on the chessboard and prepared their strategy.

How will the rest of the world react ?

Will Naruto finish his training in time ?

What does Sasuke need Sakura for ?

Continue reading to know more :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	33. The Red Dawn

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I guess readers really waited for last chapter, got one of my best hitsvisitors score since a long time with 6,120 hits and 1,470 visitors for Sunday.

Now onto the reviews I had for that chapter, I was quite surprised at the general consensus about Sakura. She clearly has little to no fans even though I tried to give her some screen time and show her progress after the timeskip. I don't blame you, I really think it comes from the original manga and how Kishimoto sabotaged any kunoichi with potential from reaching greatness. We'll see more of her later.

I'm glad you enjoyed the twists in the previous chapter, I still have some more that will hopefully have the same effects.

Sorry about the extended time since my last release but well work is work :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 33: The Red Dawn<strong>

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><p><strong>Kumogakure – Raikage Office<strong>

A, the Yondaime Raikage was sitting behind his desk, going through his daily paperwork. His eyes fell on a scroll sent to him a month ago by the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade. The message mentioned the existence of a secret organization named Akatsuki, exclusively composed by S-Rank missing nins, whose goal was to kidnap and extract the bijuu from all nine jinchuriki. Tsunade offered a temporary alliance to deal with it, information gathering, joint trainings of the remaining jinchuriki and asked for a meeting with him.

The Raikage was a very cautious man, behind his external rough appearance, he was also a very intelligent man. He was of course aware of the past tensions between Kumo and Konoha, with the Hyuga incident. He even had to face their famous Yondaime Hokage when he was younger and Tsunade was someone he respected for her strength and skills.

All those things made his decision harder, whether to believe what the scroll said or not. On one hand it could be a ploy from Konoha to have their own jinchuriki trained by his brother, as it was well known that Killer B had completely mastered his jinchuriki powers. On the other hand, the threat could be real, Tsunade didn't strike him as someone who would use such a lame strategy and it was his brother's and adoptive daughter's lives he had to protect.

Would he take the risk of refusing Konoha's help, putting his family at risk, and for the sake of what ? Past grudges and irrational fears ? He didn't have much time to think about it as he was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a kunoichi in his office.

She had had long, straight, blonde, hair bound with taut bandages and dark eyes. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse, black pants both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of white beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumo forehead protector, sandals and kunai holster which was strapped to her right thigh. She also wore bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist.

The kunoichi was trying to catch her breath, something very unusual coming from her as everyone knew she had an almost endless stamina. A immediately knew something was wrong and his eyes widened as he looked at the scroll in front of him again.

"Yugito, what happened ? Why are you so tired and where is B ? Weren't you supposed to train with him today ?" The Raikage asked her.

"Intruders Raikage-sama … They were after B and me and he stayed there to hold them back while I escaped to warn you about them." Yugito said.

"How many of them ? Did you recognize any of them ? Where are they right now ?" Asked A, already fearing the worse for his brother.

"There were three of them, all wearing the same strange dark robes with red clouds. I didn't recognize any of them but they are very strong and they're most likely still fighting at the Valley of Clouds and Lightning. I ran straight to here from there, after B ordered to fall back and call for reinforcements." Replied the blonde woman.

"Very well, you stay here. I'll go help him. ANBU !" Yelled the Raikage as he jumped through the window, not caring that it was still closed. One squad of ANBU followed after him as fast as they could since the man was actually the fastest man on Earth.

"But I left him there, I have to go back too ! He stayed there all alone to save me !" Yelled Yugito but the Raikage didn't flinch and didn't turn back.

Yugito cursed her lack of strength, the kunoichi was too tired to go home and chose to lay down in the Raikage office's couch. Yugito then closed her eyes, and slowly fell asleep victim of chakra exhaustion.

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><p><strong>Valley of Clouds and Lightning<strong>

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><p>When A and his men arrived, all they could see was the destruction and chaos the fight between Killer Bee and the mysterious invaders had caused. The Raikage could not feel the chakra from his brother nor from the intruders, only evidence of their fight remained on the ravaged battlefield.<p>

"Raikage-sama, there are strong evidence of Killer Bee using his youki and his transformed state." Said one of the ANBU specialized in tracking.

"Impossible ! Who could be strong enough to push Killer Bee to release his bijuu form ? Only Raikage-sama is powerful enough to match him in that state." Replied another ANBU.

"I can see traces of high level elemental jutsu from every element, there's also blood samples we can take back with us to Kumo for further analysis." Said a third one whose specialty was forensics.

"I can only detect our chakra signatures in the area, no trace of Killer Bee or the intruder's chakra in my range of detection." Reported the last ANBU on the squad, as their sensor expert.

The Raikage gritted his teeth, cursing his dismissal of the warning note from Konoha. He knew his pride may have cost him his brother's life. He didn't have enough forces to go against multiple shinobi with enough strength to match Bee's and Yugito's nor the logistics to track them outside Lightning Country as they no doubt already crossed the borders.

"Take every sample you need and prepare to go back." A ordered his men.

"But what about you brother Raikage-sama ?" Asked one of his operative.

"We do not have the means to follow after them right now, we have to regroup and think of a solid plan first." Replied a dejected A.

After the ANBU gathered everything they needed, A and his men left the scene and made their way back to Kumo.

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><p><strong>Rice Country – Forest<strong>

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><p>At the exact same time, on a cliff stood three Akatsuki members looking down towards the entrance of Otogakure's main base.<p>

"What's taking him so long, Un ?" Yelled Deidara.

"Will you calm down, he should be back soon." Replied the ever stoic Itachi.

"Tobi is a good boy so he won't whine like Deidara-sempai." Said the third member, behind his orange mask.

"Will you all shut up, I swear I could hear you from the other side of the base." Said a fourth voice.

They all turned back to see Zetsu slowly rising from the ground.

"What do you have on them ?" Asked Deidara.

"I've marked the strategic positions you will need to bomb, the explosions should be enough to make several of their tunnel collapse and it will make it easier for Tobi to make his way to the room we need to access." Replied Zetsu.

"Orochimaru was really retarded to build his base like this, I will show you all why art is a Bang !" Announced Deidara.

"I'll be the bait as planed, I'm pretty sure my foolish little brother will blindly follow me once I show my face at the entrance of his base." Added Itachi.

"You should all get in position, I'll deploy clones with you all to synchronize our actions. We should engage at dawn, it is the time their security is the most vulnerable." Announced Zetsu.

Every member nodded and left with a clone to their designated positions.

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><p><strong>Otogakure's Main Base<strong>

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><p>Sasuke made his way to the medical wing of his base, wanting to check on the progress his latest ally made. As he entered the room, he saw Sakura working behind her desk.<p>

"Sakura, report." Said the Otokage.

"Sasuke-kun ! I mean Otokage-sama, I've started to administer the proper treatment to Subject X. His body is responding quite well and he should be completely healed in a week at most." Proudly replied the new head of the medical staff of Otogakure.

"What about Subject Y, how is the treatment going for him ?" Asked Sasuke.

"He is still in an artificial coma as you ordered, but why do you need to keep him in such a state or even alive for that matter ?" Asked the pink haired medic.

"He is of no consequence, his adoptive mother though, holds great power. She will follow my orders as long as I keep her little pet alive." Replied the avenger with a smirk.

"I see. I wanted to ask you, will you go on a date with me ?" Asked the delusional kunoichi.

Before Sasuke could reply, a loud sound of explosion resonated through the entire base.

"Protect the patients and stay here !" Ordered the Otokage, while running out of the room.

Once Sasuke made it to his control room, he saw Kabuto with a panicked expression on his face.

"Report, Kabuto !" Yelled Sasuke.

"We're under attack, Uchiha-sama. There are at least two enemies, we managed to identify one of them though ..." Said Kabuto.

"Well, who the hell dares to attack me ?" Asked the Otokage with venom in his voice.

"It's your brother, Uchiha Itachi has been spotted near the main entrance. We don't know who his accomplice is yet though." Answered Kabuto.

Sasuke's eyes widened at the news of his brother still alive. He thought that the blond Uzumaki idiot already killed him. This made his blood boil and he immediately ran to towards Itachi's position.

"You're in charge until I come back, have our troops move out and engage my brother's accomplice outside the base but whatever you do, do not get in my way !" Yelled the avenger as he left the room.

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><p><strong>With Itachi<strong>

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><p>As soon as Sasuke reached the base's entrance he saw his brother, waiting for him outside. The younger Uchiha activated his Sharingan and ran outside, the <strong>Kusanagi<strong> in his hand covered in lightning chakra. As he was halfway from his target, another round of explosions could be heard. Sasuke looked back for half a second before continuing on his path to kill his brother.

"You are still foolish as ever, my younger brother." Said Itachi as he saw Tobi discretely going inside the Sound Base.

"Shut up, you don't know anything about me !" Roared the Nidaime Otokage.

Itachi easily evaded his brother's sword and jumped back. Of course Sasuke followed without a care in the world for his base or his men.

"I know all about your little coup and the death of the sannin Orochimaru at your hands." Replied Itachi while dodging Sasuke's attacks and going further away from the base.

"So you know about Orochimaru, I killed one former member of your secret organization quite easily, just as I'm about to kill you." Sasuke said with a smirk on his face.

"How naive of you, Sasuke. He was only interested in you because he couldn't get me. I am the reason he left the organization all those years ago, he lost a fight against me and vowed to get the body of a full blooded Uchiha with a fully developed Sharingan after that." Replied Itachi in his usual calm voice.

"It doesn't change the fact that I beat him !" Yelled Sasuke.

"You'd be surprised at how effective our spying network is. I know all about Orochimaru's state after his fight with Naruto-kun. All you did was waiting for him to weaken enough to attack like the coward you are, I bet you even needed help considering the hickey he left on your shoulder." Said Itachi with a rare smile on his face.

That was it for the younger Uchiha, he lost all inhibition and blindly charged at his older brother.

Seeing no point to this fight, Itachi prepared his Mangekyo Sharingan but before he could launch any jutsu, he was interrupted by the arrival of a Zetsu clone.

"The operation is a success, follow the plan and meet us at the hideout." Announced Zetsu.

Itachi nodded before he disappeared in a high speed movement from Sasuke's view. The younger brother only had the time to turn back when he came face to face with Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan.

"**Tsukyomi !"** was all he heard before the world became red …

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><p><strong>With Deidara<strong>

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><p>The mad bomber from Iwa was currently fighting against a kunoichi from Oto. She had fair skin, dark eyes and light blue hair which she kept in a spiky ponytail with long strands of hair framing her face. Her outfit consisted of a green dress with a long left sleeve and a short right one, a red turtle-neck which had a white, fluffy collar and brown gloves. Under the dress, she wore a one piece red suit. For shoes, she wore calf-length brown sandal boots.<p>

All around them were countless corpses of the victims from Deidara's bombs. There were also lots of collapsed tunnels and rooms that could be seen from the surface.

"You guys are so weak, it's a wonder how Orochimaru survived so long, Un." Taunted the blond shinobi.

They were interrupted in the same manner Itachi and Sasuke were, as Zetsu made his presence known.

"Retrieval is a success, proceed to the next phase." Said the plant like shinobi before disappearing again.

"It's your lucky day, Un. We will meet again but I'll leave you a present." Said Deidara to Guren as he made the Ram hand sign.

"Don't forget that art is a blast !" Yelled the Akatsuki member as a new series of explosions detonated all around them.

Guren immediately yelled **"Shoton : Suisho Ro no jutsu !"**, she had to use one of her jutsu to protect herself from the blast as she was completely covered by a crystal wall.

When she dispelled the jutsu, the intruder had already vanished.

Kabuto appeared in a **Shunshin** a couple of minutes later, with a unconscious Sasuke on his shoulder.

"We're moving to another base Guren, this one is compromised we can't stay here any longer." Announced the second in command.

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>It had been two weeks since Naruto went off on his training trip, Tsunade was worried about him but she currently had bigger issues to deal with.<p>

On her desk stood a reply letter from the Raikage, a reply she did not expect anymore since her original scroll was sent more than a month ago. She thought that he wasn't interested in her offer but apparently things changed, not for best though, if the contents of the letter were true.

The Yondaime Raikage was asking for a Five Kage meeting in three days in the land or Iron, a neutral country known for its Samurai. Each Kage was allowed to have two bodyguards and the subject of this meeting was Akatsuki and the kidnapping of his brother, Killer Bee the jinchuriki of the eighth tailed Ox.

"Bad news Tsunade-sama ?" Asked her assistant Shizune.

"See for yourself Shizune ..." Replied Tsunade as she tossed the scroll to her apprentice.

The brunette read the scroll and her eyes widened at what she saw.

"Who will you bring ? I mean apart from me, of course." Asked Shizune.

"You're not coming Shizune." Replied Tsunade and before Shizune could protest she added "You will act as the Hokage during my absence, I don't want Danzo or anyone else trying to get any funny ideas while I'm away and you're the only one I trust for this job. I would have bring Sakura and Kakashi but ..." finished Tsunade.

The lost of her last apprentice was still a sore subject for her, the chunin Sakura assaulted were clear in their reports, Sakura had betrayed the Leaf and openly attacked them before leaving the village.

"I understand, Tsunade-sama. Who shall I summon to go with you then ?" Shizune said.

"Get me Kakashi and Gai." Replied the blonde Hokage.

One hour later, the Godaime Hokage was gone, her escort being Konoha's taijutsu and ninjutsu specialists.

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><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

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><p>A poof of smoke suddenly appeared inside the Namikaze training ground. As it cleared out, a tall blond man could be seen.<p>

"Home sweet home." Said the blond with a happy tone.

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is finally back.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Akatsuki's operations both went perfectly fine. They managed to get both a ring and they kidnapped another jinchuriki, or did they ?

The Kage meeting is next, what do you think will happen ? I have no idea where Iron Country is located in the Naruto world. Any input or suggestion ?

We know more about Sasuke's 'staff' and guess who's back ?

Did Naruto finish his training and what can he do if he did ?

Find out by reading the next chapter :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	34. Kage Summit

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Alright, let's start as usual by addressing the reviews from last chapter.<p>

I'm glad that the modifications I made to the classic story were nicely received, well the prophecy announcing that Naruto would meet an Ox and a Cat was a dead giveaway that Killer Bee and Yugito would survive their first encounter with Akatsuki.

About Akatsuki members not being tricked by the henge Bee used, well if Madara/Tobi in canon did not see the difference until the beginning of the sealing procedure with the **Gedo Mazo**, then it is safe to assume that it could also trick the immortal combo and Kisame.

Concerning Guren working for Sasuke while she was supposedly one of Orochimaru's most trusted subordinate, well I believe I explained what he did to command her "loyalty" to him … _points to patient Y_.

I can feel everyone's hate for Sasuke, not to worry he is still on Naruto's hit list, _and mine_ :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 34: Kage Summit<strong>

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><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

Nine cloaked figures stood inside a dark cave, once again performing a jinchuriki sealing ritual with the giant structure **Gedo Mazo**. In the center of the room, was the unconscious body of the eight tailed Ox jinchuriki, Killer Bee.

"I am quite satisfied with the recent success we achieved, not only did we get Orochimaru's ring back but we also managed to take in the Hachibi. Now let's begin the sealing, with our ninth ring back, the procedure should take less time to complete than it previously did." Announced the leader.

Every Akatsuki members started to channel chakra to their rings, waking up the **Gedo Mazo**. Soon tendrils of chakra started to reach out from it, aiming for Killer Bee's body. The jinchuriki's body started to levitate, however, the moment the chakra absorption should have started, a poof of smoke appeared in the place previously occupied by host's body to be replaced by one of the severed tentacle of the jinchuriki's transformed state.

"It seems the jinchuriki managed to trick you, Hidan, Kakuzu, Kisame. I can't really blame you though, even with my Sharingan I did not detect any genjutsu from this fake body. Furthermore its chakra level was consistent with a body tired from an all out fighting with the three of you." Uchiha Itachi said in his usual stoic voice.

"So four jinchuriki still remain, Zetsu, how did Kumo react after our intrusion in their territory ?" Asked the leader.

"That's most troubling, from the information I managed to gather the Raikage was furious about his brother's kidnapping and asked for a Five Kage Meeting. The meeting is scheduled in three days and will take place on the neutral grounds of Tetsu no Kuni." Replied Zetsu.

"If the jinchuriki is not with them and all we managed was to capture a stupid clone, then where the hell is that damn Octopus idiot ?" Yelled Hidan.

"You will continue to monitor Kumo's actions, Zetsu. Still no news from the Kyuubi jinchuriki either ?" Replied the leader.

"Not since he disappeared without a trace inside Konoha. He may still be inside the village though, there are several places that I cannot penetrate with my blending powers." Replied Zetsu.

"Very well, what do you know about that Kage Meeting ? Which Kage is coming and who are they bringing with them as escorts?" Asked the leader.

"Every Kage has accepted the invitation, the Tsuchikage is coming with Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi, the Hokage is coming with Kakashi and Gai, the Mizukage is coming with Zabuza and Haku, the Raikage is coming with Yugito and Darui and finally the Kazekage is coming with Temari and Kankuro." Zetsu said.

"They are going to gather two of our targets in one place with little security and a handful of samurai to protect them, Un." Deidara said.

"That's indeed a great opportunity ..." Said the leader.

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><p><strong>Iron Country<strong>

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><p>It took two days for Tsunade and her escort to arrive in Tetsu no Kuni, the journey was quite calm though the constant challenges between Gai and Kakashi really started to get on her nerves. Nevertheless, she just found a perfect way to unofficially punish Naruto when he gets back, she would send him on a long term mission with those two.<p>

The blonde Hokage and her staff reached their destination, a huge Samurai Fortress. They were escorted to the meeting room where every other delegation was already waiting for them. Gai was already shouting how shameful it was to arrive last and how he would punish himself for that.

Upon entering the meeting room, Tsunade was directed to the center of the room while Kakashi and Gai took the stairs to join the observation seats. Tsunade took her seat and placed her Hokage hat in front of her as every other Kage did before her. The only non Kage seating with them then stood up and spoke up.

"Now that Hokage-dono has arrived, this meeting can start. I am Mifune, General of the Samurai from Iron Country and it is my pleasure to host this meeting between the Kage of the five great ninja villages." Said the Samurai leader.

Mifune had long gray hair, which almost reached down to his waist, with bandages wrapped around his head. He had black eyes with distinct wrinkles underneath them. He also had a gray goatee and mustache. Finally he wore a simple purple kimono-like outfit.

"Now, Raikage-dono will be the one to speak first, as the one who originally asked for this meeting." Announced Mifune before sitting back down on his seat.

The Yondaime Raikage stood up and looked across the meeting room, eying every Kage for a few seconds and then sighed before he spoke up.

"The reason I called for this Kage meeting is the recent incursion of the terrorist group called Akatsuki inside the borders of Lightning Country. They attacked two of my subordinates and kidnapped one of them, my younger brother Killer Bee jinchuriki of the eight tails Ox." Said A with anger in his voice.

"I don't trust any of you and I didn't plan to meet with any of you in the first place, much less cooperate with your villages. I called you here to ascertain everyone's position towards that rogue group. Konoha, Suna, Iwa and Kiri, Akatsuki has member hailing from your villages. Furthermore, I even have proofs that some of you actually used their help in the past." Announced the Raikage.

"Surely you didn't make me come all the way to this forsaken place and in such a short notice to start pointing fingers at me or the other Kage, Raikage-dono. I can assure you that this meeting will end very soon if that was the case." Tsunade calmly said to him.

"I made sure to send an advanced warning to every shinobi village about them more than a month ago, though the message was mostly for you Raikage-dono. Suna had already been attacked by them in the past so they were already aware of the threat that Akatsuki represents. Kumo on the other hand, still had two jinchuriki at the time and never faced Akatsuki nor were you aware of them since you correctly mentioned that there is no know Kumo missing nin in their ranks." Tsunade added while the Raikage looked down in shame.

"What do you propose we do then, Hokage-dono ?" Asked Gaara.

"The same thing I already asked in my letters to all of you, temporary truce among us and cooperation in defeating a common foe once and for all, Kazekage-dono." Tsunade replied.

"What do you say, Raikage-dono, Mizukage-dono, Kazekage-dono and Tsuchikage-dono ?" Mifune asked to the other leaders.

"Kirigakure will cooperate with the alliance, we already lost both of our jinchuriki recently but we will help in anyway we can to put an end to Akatsuki." Mei replied.

"Sunagakure will also join the alliance, Konoha already helped us in the past against Akatsuki. No one can tell when they will come back, I refuse to let my people suffer from it." Gaara said.

Everyone's eyes then focused on the two last Kage that did not answer yet about the alliance proposal. The Raikage decided to speak first.

"Even though I still don't trust any of you, I have my people and my daughter to consider too. Kumogakure will also participate in the alliance against Akatsuki." Announced A with a sigh.

The Tsuchikage slowly moved out of his seat, then to everyone's surprise inside the room, he started to levitate above the ground. The old Kage then closed his eyes and just stayed there, floating in the air while meditating.

"Iwa will … Never become Konoha's ally !" Suddenly roared Onoki, the Tsuchikage then extended his arms towards the other Kage and called a jutsu.

"**Jinton : Genkai Hakuri no jutsu !"** Yelled the Tsuchikage as a transparent cube appeared with a sphere located at its center, between the palms of his hands. The structure expanded rapidly in size when being propelled towards its intended target and trapped every Kage inside its confines. The sphere then seemed to explode with a tremendous amount of force, while the exterior walls of the structure effectively restricted the size of the blast radius, resulting in the destruction of everything and anyone caught within as they were pulverized into particles of dust.

That was at least the intended goal of the jutsu, but every Kage found a way out of the death trap.

Kakashi appeared behind Tsunade and used a new jutsu of his with the Mangekyo Sharingan, literally bending space around the Hokage to deflect the blast away from her.

Gaara simply raised his **Suna no Yoroi**, shielding him completely from the Tsuchikage's technique.

The moment things went out of control, an ice mirror appeared behind Mei, courtesy from Haku and his **Makyo Hyosho**. The Mizukage used the mirror to transport herself out of the dust jutsu.

A for his part activated his **Raiton no Yoroi** and moved out of the cube at blinding speed before it exploded.

"What's the meaning of this, Ryotenbin no Onoki ?" Yelled the Raikage only to find out that the man already left with his two guards.

"Well it seems Iwagakure will not join you ridiculous alliance, Raikage-dono." Announced a new voice. Everyone in the room turned around to see the arrival of a new face, Zetsu appeared in the middle of the conference room.

"Akatsuki !" Yelled the Raikage as he jumped in front of Yugito and Darui.

"Protect the Kazekage and Yugito, Akatsuki is after them !" Tsunade said to Gai and Kakashi. The Mizukage and her two bodyguards also joined them.

"Calm down a bit will you, we did not come here to fight and I'm just a clone." Said the intruder.

"What do you want ?" Asked Tsunade.

"Our leader has an offer for you all. We now have more than half of the bijuu at our disposal, hand over the rest of them and we will stop attacking your villages. Failure to comply will result in your total destruction." Replied Zetsu.

"You will pay for taking my brother, I will never hand over Yugito to you either !" Yelled the Raikage.

"Your brother ? There seems to be a misunderstanding, we failed to capture him. He is a jinchuriki with total control over his bijuu after all." Replied the Akatsuki member. The Raikage was fuming in anger as he understood Killer Bee took the opportunity to escape from Akatsuki to go fool around somewhere while Kumo is in turmoil over his disappearance.

"I will never let you get Naruto, the Kazekage is our ally and we won't let you take him either." Tsunade announced.

"Then you will all meet you end today in this place." Replied Zetsu but before he could say anything else, the Raikage appeared in front of him with his lightning armor activated and took him out with a very powerful punch across the face, instantly breaking his neck.

Suddenly a bunch of Samurai went inside the room and their captain made his report to Mifune.

"Mifune-sama, Iwagakure is marching against us. Five battalions have crossed our borders and they are taking position all around this place as we speak." Said the Samurai.

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><p><strong>Borders of Iron Country<strong>

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><p>Onoki joined his troops and ordered them to launch the attack. He gave the following specific orders 'No prisoner except the Kazekage and the Raikage's woman bodyguard'.<p>

"You must destroy Konoha and their allies, today we will avenge all our brothers and sisters who fell during the last war against them." Yelled the Sandaime Tsuchikage.

"Is it really safe to declare war against so many villages at the same time Jiji ?" Asked Kurotsuchi, his granddaughter. She never liked Konoha but to declare war against the whole world seemed reckless even for her grandfather.

"There's nothing to worry about, if we manage to take out every Kage at the same time, they won't have the leadership to organize themselves against us." Replied Onoki in a trance.

The young Iwa kunoichi was not convinced but she knew better than discussing the Tsuchikage's orders. She left it at that and decided to go join the front lines.

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><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

* * *

><p>Zetsu made it back to the cave where the leader and Tobi were waiting for him.<p>

"Report, Zetsu." Said Tobi in a strangely serious voice, quite different from his usual joking tone.

"Everything is going as scheduled Madara, Iwa is going to engage them at any moment now." Replied Zetsu.

"I can't believe my suggestion jutsu worked so well on Onoki, I forced him to reject any idea of an alliance with Konoha just like I forced Yagura to seek and destroy any bloodline wielder." Said the masked Akatsuki.

"On another note Nagato, have we located the Hachibi yet ?" Asked Tobi the now identified masked man as Uchiha Madara.

"We have a lead, I've sent Kisame and Itachi there." Replied the fake leader named Nagato.

"Very well." Said Madara before slowly disappearing in the darkness.

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><p><strong>Meeting Room<strong>

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><p>"What should we do, those Samurai don't stand a chance against Iwagakure's troops. Five battalions, that's five hundred ninja." Said Mei, worried about the incoming invasion.<p>

"We form an alliance and help them to win that battle. This is what we came for after all before the Tsuchikage betrayed us and that freak Akatsuki appeared." Replied Tsunade.

"I agree with Hokage-dono, let's do it." Added Gaara with determination.

"Very well, the sooner we end this the sooner I can go get my brother and kick his ass for his deception." The Raikage said, relieved that Killer Bee was alive somewhere.

"This place is a fortress build to resist against such attacks, I will direct you to strategic points to defend." Announced Mifune as he showed them where they would fight.

Every Kage nodded to each other and made their way out of the meeting room.

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><p><strong>Samurai's Fortress Walls<strong>

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><p>Each Kage and their two bodyguards took position on a corner of the Fortress. They were all waiting for Iwagakure's ninja to arrive.<p>

Mifune had two hundred Samurais under his command, equally placed all over the walls and ready to fight off the invaders. The odds were not that great though, fighting more than two to one and with Samurai against shinobi. It would all come down to how well each ninja in the alliance would do.

Suddenly, the entire area was blasted by a very powerful wind. The ninja had to channel chakra to their feet to hold their ground while Samurai had to grip the ground in order to stay on their feet, even with their heavy looking armors.

When the wind died down, on top of the main gate appeared one shadow, the Konoha, Suna and Kiri delegations immediately recognized the one standing there.

"Naruto ! You're back." Yelled Tsunade.

"You guys seem quite nervous, what's going on ? Did I miss something Ba-chan ? " Replied the blond jinchuriki.

"You're right on time, as usual Uzumaki Naruto." Said Gaara while smiling at his friend.

"It's nice to see you again Naruto-kun." Mei said with her seductive tone.

"So that's the Kyuubi jinchuriki, I have to say he knows how to make an entrance." Said the Raikage with a smirk.

"I don't know if you're aware of that or not but on my way here I came across a bunch of Iwa nins. They were quite aggressive and attacked me out of nowhere so I had to take them down, I hope the Tsuchikage will understand it was self defense." Naruto said, earning a face-palm from everyone inside the Fortress.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Made some modifications to the Kage Summit, the most obvious one is Iwagakure's betrayal. I figured that if Yagura a Kage and jinchuriki could get controlled by Madara then it is also possible for someone like Onoki.

The alliance is formed, although they don't have Iwa with them this time.

Naruto made it back in time for the big ass battle that's coming and he even had a head start by taking out some of the enemies before arriving.

How will the battle end and will they realize Onoki is being controlled by Madara ?

Read the next chapters to find out :)

As usual, please Read and Review.


	35. The Siege Part I

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p><strong>Spoiler Alert<strong>, skip to next bold line if you aren't up to date with the latest chapters of the Naruto classic manga.

To all reviewers bringing up Kyuubi's true name, Tobi not being Madara and everything that is currently shown in the canon manga, well those facts weren't revealed yet when I started to write this story. I'm not really sure how other writers do it but I planned the whole story plot from the beginning to the end with what I knew from the manga at the time. So Kyuubi's name will remain Natsuki and Tobi will still pose as Madara in my story. Modifying those facts aren't possible at this time in my story, and well it's fan-fiction so not everything has to follow the manga :)

**End of Spoilers**

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><p>Lots of good reactions on how the Kage Meeting went from last chapter, some confusions too. Let's clear some misunderstandings first:<p>

For starters Naruto did not take out the entire Iwa troops, he merely incapacitated a small group but you will learn more about this while reading this chapter.

Secondly, Naruto did not "magically" appeared out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure I made him "poof" back from the summoning world into his family compound after his training. Anyone from the higher ups in Konoha could have informed him about Tsunade's current location after that and we all know he would never sit back while his fate was discussed by others.

Finally, about Kurotsuchi not being "strong" enough to resist a direct order from her Kage and grandfather, well I did mention her having doubts about the attack but it is also a common fact that she knows her grandfather is pretty stubborn when he sets his mind on something.

I hope everything has been answered in this A/N or will be answered while you read this chapter.

With this chapter, the story will go over 200,000 hits, thanks to you all for your support :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 35: The Siege – Part I<strong>

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><p><strong>Samurai's Fortress Walls<strong>

Naruto was standing on top of the main gate, facing the Samurai and shinobi delegations. He quickly recognized his fellow jinchuriki friend Gaara the Kazekage as well as Mei from Kirigakure, each of them standing in a corner of the base with two bodyguards.

When his eyes fell on the group from Kumogakure, he could feel the youki from Yugito. Natsuki told him that he was facing the jinchuriki from the two tail Cat. Naruto could see that the Kumo kunoichi also felt his youki and most likely her bijuu also told her about him being with Natsuki, from the surprised look on her face.

After she regained her composure, Tsunade decided to get everyone on the same page.

"Raikage-dono, this young man here is Uzumaki Naruto, one of the most powerful jonin from the Leaf. You may already know him from his bingo book moniker, the Kaze no Kami. Kazekage-dono and Mizukage-dono have already met him in the past." The blonde Hokage said.

"Uzumaki … Are you perhaps related to Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto-san ?" A asked Naruto.

Before Tsunade could change the subject, Naruto answered the Raikage.

"Yes, she's my mother. While we're on the subject, my father was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. It is a pleasure to meet you Raikage-sama." Naruto said, while bowing his head.

Tsunade wanted to scold the younger blond for his truthful answer but she knew it was his secret to tell. Iwagakure was already their enemy, at this point it didn't really matter anymore if the whole world knew about this.

The audience though was far more affected by Naruto's confession, in front of them stood the son of the Yellow Flash of Konoha, a man known throughout the Elemental Nations. The man's reputation was even known to Mifune and his Samurai.

Mei already knew but her bodyguards didn't, Zabuza simply chuckled at the revelation, knowing he lost to the second coming of the **Kiroi Senko** somehow softened the blow from his previous defeat to the blond.

Gaara's eyes widened at the news, once again being able to identify himself through the blond. Both sons of Kage and both hated and isolated for the burden they carried. Yet Naruto could rise above his fate, Gaara's admiration for his friend increased even more after learning his lineage.

The Raikage thought he would have to speak with Naruto about Kumo's attempt to kidnap Kushina in the past, now he would also have to speak with Naruto about his encounter with Minato. A simply smiled to the blond before speaking again.

"Nice to meet you too, Naruto. We have things to discuss about, it concerns both your parents but this isn't the time nor the place to. Now what is it that you said about taking out Iwa nins on your way here." Said A.

"Yes Naruto, what are you doing here ? When did you get back from your training trip ?" Tsunade asked her subordinate.

Naruto took his trademark pose, grinning and scratching the back of his head before he answered his leader.

"Well, yeah sorry about leaving without warning you first but I needed to leave as fast as possible. I went to a place where I could not contact you, anyway my training is completed now and I came back yesterday. Shizune explained the situation to me and I left as soon as she told me about the meeting and what you were discussing. I think she tried to say something before I left but I didn't really pay attention." Started the blond jonin.

"On my way here, I saw shinobi troops from Iwagakure advancing towards this position. They did not even let me talk and started to attack as soon as they saw me. I thought that maybe I was intruding on a restricted zone reserved to Iwa and did not want to cause diplomatic issues with them. I decided to just knock them out and then I came here as fast as I could, and you know the rest. Where's the Iwa delegation by the way ? I swear it was auto defense, if you let me speak with the Tsuchikage Jiji, I'm sure he'll understand, Ba-chan." Naruto said.

Those who didn't know Naruto could only gasp at the blond's blatant disrespect towards his leader and the way he simply decided to leave his own village to come here alone. The others just chuckled at Naruto's antics, Tsunade decided to brief him on the current situation, fully knowing that no one except her or a whole army could have stopped him from getting here, much less Shizune alone.

"There will be no need to explain yourself with Onoki, Naruto. Iwagakure suddenly attacked us during the meeting and ran away after their surprise attack failed. The men you met on your way here are their backup plan, they are currently blocking our retreat and they will launch an attack on this fortress very soon. It's a shame you only knocked out those you encountered, we are severely outnumbered." Tsunade said to Naruto.

"I see, what about the meeting, did you guys reach an agreement about the jinchuriki and Akatsuki ?" Naruto asked, knowing the agenda of the Kage meeting.

"Yes, an alliance has been formed between Suna, Kumo, Kiri and Konoha. We will share any information we receive about Akatsuki and we will assist each other in the fight against them. Jinchuriki will be protected and you may even get to train with them, though it will have to wait until the Raikage finds his brother." Mei decided to answer this time.

Naruto's eyes widened at the red head's announce, the words from his sensei resonating in his mind. The wolds was almost united against a common foe, this was what Jiraya wanted to achieve. Naruto did not forget about Iwagakure's betrayal and wondered what made them act so foolishly.

"Anyway, how many of them did you take out during your skirmish ?" The Raikage asked him.

"Not that much, I'm afraid. I think it was a group of fifty, I didn't really stopped to get a head count you know." Replied the young shinobi. His reply once again caused the audience to face palm, taking out fifty of Iwagakure's elite was no small feat, contrary to what Naruto's tone seemed to imply.

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><p><strong>Iwagakure's Vanguard<strong>

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><p>Kurotsuchi joined the troops and a jonin suddenly appeared in front of her.<p>

"Kurotsuchi-sama, we lost contact with our men from sector one." Said the Iwa jonin kneeling in front of the Sandaime Tsuchikage's granddaughter.

"Have one squad investigate the zone, in the mean time send men from sector two and three to cover the hole this made in our lines." Replied Kurotsuchi, not showing her surprise to the man in front of her.

The brunette had a terrible gut feeling about this whole operation, there was no way Iwa could get away with what they were about to do. Even if they somehow managed to capture the two jinchuriki and kill the rest, facing the combined force of four of the five great ninja village was too much.

She knew her grandfather held a deep grudge against Konoha since the last Great War, however the old man never put his personal emotion before the good of his village. The village had nothing to gain from this, something was terribly wrong in this but she didn't knew what.

Akatsuchi decided to stay with the Tsuchikage, that man was completely loyal to the old man, never letting him out of his sight. Those two were leading the main assault wave that would clash with the Samurai's base main gates.

The kunoichi was left in charge of the secondary troops that would surround the rest of the samurai's base. The troops still had one hour before they would reach their target. With nothing better to do, Kurotsuchi decided to join the investigation squad on sector one.

* * *

><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

* * *

><p>Zetsu and Pein were still in the cave where they received instructions from Madara. Zetsu suddenly broke the silence and then spoke to the organization's apparent leader.<p>

"It seems like the Kyuubi jinchuriki is back in the game." He reported.

"Where is he ?" Asked Pein.

"He just broke through Iwagakure's lines, taking out several shinobi along the way and joined the others at the Kage Meeting." Zetsu replied.

"We have to seize this opportunity to get him, send Kakuzu and Hidan in." Ordered Pein.

"What of the two other jinchuriki ?" Zetsu asked.

"What about them ?" Pein said.

"Who do we target first ?" Replied Zetsu.

"Iwa is already going for the Ichibi and Nibi, we will focus our efforts on the Kyuubi. Relay these orders to Kakuzu and Hidan. They are to specifically target Uzumaki Naruto, the Kazekage and Yugito are secondary target." Pein gave out his instructions.

"It shall be done." Announced Zetsu before disappearing.

* * *

><p><strong>Samurai's Fortress<strong>

* * *

><p>The alliance was once again waiting for the battle to start, according to Mifune and his scouts, they should be in range really soon. Naruto decided to position himself at the main gates, leaving his fellow ninja comrades with the task to defend the base's corners.<p>

True to the predictions, Iwagakure's troops were spotted not too long after that. The night just fell when they started the siege, most likely using the darkness as a cover to decrease the defender's accuracy in shooting them down from a distance.

The Samurai were using bows, however, the lack of light clearly worked against them as the invaders easily evaded their arrows. The Fortress was not build to for a ninja's battles either, as none of the walls had any decent protection against long range ninjutsu. The enemies were clearly taking advantage of this, as many **Doton** jutsu were used to launch various size of rocks against the walls of the base.

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><p><strong>Northern Corner – Konoha's Team<strong>

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><p>Tsunade knew it was only a matter of time before the walls of the base would crumble under the sheer power of Iwagakure's assault. Unlike in Konoha, this fortress did not have seals embedded in the walls surrounding them to deflect ninjutsu thrown at them. Iwa was most likely waiting for a breach in on of the walls surrounding the base to charge in, not exposing themselves before that.<p>

Their corner was doing fine, with her deadly taijutsu and the support of Kakashi using his Sharingan and Gai opening his Inner Gates, they easily destroyed anything that came their way.

They had no other choice but to wait though, trying to get out right now was downright suicidal.

The Konoha Team continued to hold their position, not allowing Iwa to breach their side of the base.

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><p><strong>Eastern Corner – Kiri's Team<strong>

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><p>The Mizukage and her two guards also stood their ground quite easily.<p>

Haku was using his **Hyoton** bloodline to freeze the enemies missiles while Mei or Zabuza simply destroyed them once frozen.

Mei was using simply her **Yoton** bloodline to annihilate the incoming frozen projectiles, due to the great thermal differential between the frozen rocks and her lava bullets she had no trouble to counter even the biggest of them.

Zabuza for his part, used his giant cleaver, the **Kubikiribocho**, to cut down the smaller and faster rocks.

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><p><strong>Southern Corner – Suna's Team<strong>

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><p>The Kazekage and his siblings were doing their job too.<p>

Gaara used his sand to cover their side of the base. There was no way in hell the invaders would outrun him in chakra capacity, so they basically knew their corner was safe for now.

This didn't prevent Temari from helping her younger brother and leader, using sharp wind techniques to slice down the smaller rocks when she could.

Kankuro however, was pretty useless during that time. Long ranged fighting had never been his forte, the puppet master would however be extremely useful in close range, once Iwa decides to charge in.

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><p><strong>Western Corner – Kumo's Team<strong>

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><p>The Raikage, Yugito and Darui also managed to hold off the invaders.<p>

A and Yugito were mainly using their superior reflex and advanced taijutsu forms to defend their spot. The Yondaime Raikage activating his lightning armor, enhanced his body's synaptic transmission, thus increasing his response time and overall speed.

His adoptive daughter used her cat like features to increase her senses and efficiency. Yugito could make her finger and toe nails grow to become long claws, it allowed her to slash at anything she wanted to with deadly precision.

Darui was the wielder of the **Ranton** bloodline, allowing him to fire super heated and charged plasma beams. Needless to say that his ability came in handy to deflect or destroy the incoming rocks thrown at them.

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><p><strong>Main Gates<strong>

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><p>Naruto stood with Mifune and some of his men behind the main gates of the Fortress. The blond chose this position since scouts announced that the main assault force would come for the gates, supposedly led by Onoki himself.<p>

True to the reports, Iwa concentrated most of their firepower on the gates, the bigger and faster rocks were thrown this way. Mifune turned out to be a pretty decent swordsman, using his katana to cut though the stones with no difficulty. Naruto only used mid classed wind jutsu to defend their position.

Naruto was surprised that the Tsuchikage did not take part in the battle yet, something was off but Naruto could not figure out what.

"Is that it ? Is that really what Iwagakure's elite can offer ?" The Raikage said with a smirk on his face from his corner of the base.

Unable to ease his discomfort, Naruto decided to activate his superior sight, the **Ryugan**. The dragon sight allowed him to scout the base's surroundings, what he saw however, out of the normal human eye range made him frown. The young sage suddenly yelled, surprising his comrades.

"Take cover immediately ! Get away from the gates !" Yelled the Konoha jonin as he dragged Mifune away with him.

What nobody could see was the Tsuchikage, that Naruto recognized due to the Kage hat he was wearing, applying some kind of sealing tag on a huge rock that his subordinate, a very tall man easily lifted. The taller man then prepared himself to launch the giant boulder towards them.

Naruto deducted that the seal was some kind of explosive or charged with some nasty jutsu that would obliterate its intended target.

"Everyone, destroy that giant boulder that's coming towards the gate with any long range jutsu you have !" Naruto yelled, catching the ninja's attention from every corner of the base.

The four Kage immediately understood why the blond seemed so panicked, cursing that they did not see that one coming. Mei and Gaara tried to stop or deflect the boulder but it was too late and it came in too fast.

As the boulder came close to the Base's Gates, the sealing tag attached to it glowed for a second before expanding into what looked like a bigger version of Onoki's previous jutsu the **Jinton : Genkai Hakuri no jutsu**.

The boulder impacted the gates, causing damages but not destroying them. The jutsu however encompassed its target and seconds later totally destroyed it, leaving a giant hole in the fortress.

Thanks to Naruto's advanced warning, the defenders suffered no casualties after that attack but they just lost one of their only edge in this battle. Iwagakure did not miss this, as the assaulting forces immediately stopped their bombardment of the sides of the base. Most likely preparing themselves for a final frontal charge, now that the walls of the fortress were breached.

"And thus truly begins the first battle of the Alliance … " Grimly announced Mifune.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Sorry for the nasty cliffhanger, the rest of the battle will take place in the next chapter :)

I based this part of the story on a movie scene, cyber cookie to those who figure out which one and which scene.

Naruto announced his lineage to the world in this chapter, how will this affects his future career remains unknown :)

I know the sealing tag charged with the Sandaime Tsuchikage's jutsu was a bit unrealistic but well I liked it that way, I could of course load the boulder with exploding tags but it felt better this way.

Akatsuki will come and join the battle in the next chapter too.

How will the alliance do against their enemies ? Will we see some new moves from Naruto ?

Read the next issue to know the answers to these questions :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	36. The Siege Part II

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>First, a special mention to the reviewer '<strong>Shattered Silence<strong>' for correctly guessing that the battle scene from last chapter was inspired from the movie **The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers**, from the Helm's Deep Battle scene.

Another nice mention to the reviewer '**The-Real-James-Potter**', who thought the scene was from the movie **Kingdom of Heaven**, from the Jerusalem's Siege scene. That was a great guess too, and thinking back about it, it also fits with what I wrote pretty well actually.

I'm quite pleased that you found the answer or something really close to it, means I managed to convey what I wanted that battle to feel like, without being too obvious about the original source. I really enjoyed both of those movies, though I will have to say that I do not own any of them :)

Some of you were also concerned about Naruto's level of strength, that he should have been able to shatter or deflect that boulder before it reached its target. Well, the sealing tag was an unknown factor, plus he thought about the lives of his allies first and his instinct told him to avoid that boulder. Let's not dwell on it too much, I think you guys will be pleased with Naruto's display of power during this chapter.

400+ Reviews, favorites and alerts, thanks everyone :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 36: The Siege – Part II<strong>

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><p><strong>Samurai's Fortress<strong>

Onoki's attack managed to open a giant hole inside the Alliance's defensive line, it was a complete chaos inside the base, as Mifune's men were panicking at the prospect of soon being overrun by Iwagakure's elite forces. Most were actually ready to leave their stations and surrender.

"Silence !" This came from someone standing close to where the gates used to be. Everyone turned their heads to see Naruto looking at them. The blond closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then he started to speak.

"My sensei once had a dream, he dreamed that one day the world would be united as one in peace, that men would finally be able to understand each other. He sacrificed many things along the way, just trying to reach that goal, Friendship, Love and Family. Everybody wrote him off as an idealistic fool, everybody. And yet here we are, united in this place, ninja and samurai, representing every village in the Elemental Nations against a common foe." Naruto said, gaining the attention of everyone inside the base. Tsunade knew about Jiraya's dream, the prophecy given to him by the toads and how he lived his life to accomplish his destiny.

"Those five hundred Iwa shinobi out there have also written us off. There are a few in this world who do still believe in us, who will never give up on us, family, friends or lovers. You go back to your positions and those are the people I want in your minds, those are the people I want in your hearts." The Namikaze continued his speech. Everyone could see the truth in his words, they all had someone to go back to, someone they would fight till their dying breath for.

"Every man at some point in his life is gonna lose a battle, he's gonna fight and he is gonna lose. But what makes him a man, is that amidst that battle, he does not lose himself. The fight is not over, this battle is not over. Let's win this together, let's go back to our loved ones, help me show the entire world that my master was not an idealistic fool !" Naruto roared, followed by everyone's cheers.

All those who knew Namikaze Minato could see his shadow behind Naruto for a moment, they realized it was the beginning of a new legend, Naruto would surpass them all and even his father.

"**Those were great words Naru-kun, very inspiring."** Natsuki told him.

"Thanks, Na-chan." Replied the Namikaze heir.

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><p><strong>Outside the base<strong>

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><p>The Sandaime Tsuchikage and his bodyguard joined his men on the front lines, as his battalions were reforming the ranks around him for the final assault after the Gates were destroyed. He saw his granddaughter appearing behind them in a <strong>Shunshin<strong> a few moments later.

"Report, Kurotsuchi." Said the old leader.

"Our troops from sector one met a mysterious shinobi from Konoha, they tried to prevent him from reaching the samurai's base but he managed to force his way through, knocking down a good number of our men in the process." Replied the kunoichi.

"What did he look like and what moves did he use ?" Asked the Kage.

"White clothes, blonde hair and blue eyes, nothing more accurate than that. The men don't even know what kind of jutsu he used back there, all they said was that everyone suddenly lost control of their body and lost consciousness shortly after that." Reported Kurotsuchi.

"Very well, you will stay here at the rear while I lead our men inside." Onoki said to her, leaving no room for her to argue with him.

They were about to join their positions when they heard the cheers and roars, coming from inside the fortress.

"Quite optimistic, aren't they ?" Said Onoki with a smirk as he made his way towards his army.

"Looks like they won't surrender after all ..." Replied Kurotsuchi, watching her grandfather leave.

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><p><strong>Remote Location<strong>

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><p>Two shadows were watching the battle from afar, they were wearing Akatsuki clothing.<p>

"Why the hell can't we just go in and join the battle ?" Asked the first one with an irritated voice.

"Can't you shut up already, Hidan ? We will remain here and wait until each side wears each other out." Replied the second.

"Aren't you a little bit too cautious, Kakuzu ? It's not like anything down there could actually kill us, you know." Hidan said to his partner.

"Our target is quite the tricky one, we can't let him know that we're here until it is already too late for him to escape from us." Replied Kakuzu.

"Fine, but I call dibs on him. I'll show that fake Kami that Jashin-sama is the only true God." Said the silver haired man with a smirk."

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><p><strong>Samurai's Fortress<strong>

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><p>The defenders regained their confidence and fighting spirit while listening to Naruto's words and they all returned to their previous positions. Mifune ordered his men to switch to close contact weapons, putting their bows away for katana in anticipation for the fight to come.<p>

The shinobi remained on their positions, defending the base's corners from their higher grounds. As Mifune remained near the place where the gates used to be, Naruto joined the aged Samurai General.

"I will let you and your men handle the Gates, old man." Naruto said to him, getting a nod from the Samurai.

"What are you planning to do, Uzumaki-dono ?" Mifune asked him.

"I found a weakness in their attack patterns, I'm counting on you to stall them for as long as you can." Naruto replied with a smirk.

"Will you be alright on your own, I can always have some of my men go with you." Asked Mifune.

"That won't be necessary, let's just say that most of my more powerful attacks have a wide area of effect, you wouldn't want your men to be too close to me when I launch them." Naruto said as he took some steps back and went through hand signs.

"**Ninpo : Kuchiyose no jutsu !"** Yelled the blond as he slammed his hands on the floor. A poof of smoke announced the arrival of one of Naruto's summon. As the smoke cleared out, everyone gasped at the sight of Ryuoh, the Dragon King himself. Unlike the other boss summon, Ryuoh was not a gigantic creature, barely bigger than Hiryu. His body was entirely covered by black scales, he had two large muscular wings and his eyes looked like Naruto's when activating the **Ryugan**.

"**This is the first time you've summoned me, Naruto. I do hope for you that you didn't call me here for one of your stupid pranks."** Roared the beast, staring at his summoner.

"I assure you that it's not the case, if you just took a look outside the base, you would understand how serious the situation is." Replied Naruto while pointing at the destroyed gate and Iwagakure's troops advancing towards them.

"**Very well, I will lend you my powers. Let's go, it's been quite a long time since my last battle in the human world, I hope they will put up a good fight."** Said the Dragon King as Naruto nodded and jumped on his back.

Mifune now understood Naruto's earlier words and the younger blond's analysis was correct. Their enemy didn't have any aerial support and would be hard pressed to defend against the dragon's attacks, while trying to get inside the base at the same time.

The Samurai Leader smiled as he saw Naruto and Ryuoh disappear into the night, the Dragon King's black body offering them perfect stealth.

As soon as Naruto and his dragon disappeared, the first Iwa nins were already at the doors, trying to get through the Samurai's defense lines. They were faster than Mifune's men but the Samurai were more disciplined and organized while the ninja were just randomly jumping in.

Their charge having been stopped, the Iwa nins tried to run upside the walls around the hole, only to find the shinobi from the Alliance waiting for them. Most of the Samurai had been moved downstairs, in order to hold off Iwagakure's charge so the shinobi had to cover the entire higher levels. Having the advantage of fighting from higher grounds they managed to prevent any intruder from getting inside the base.

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><p><strong>Outside the base<strong>

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><p>Onoki was not pleased, his plan was not working.<p>

"Report, commander !" Yelled the old Kage to one of his leading officer.

"We did not manage to get through, Tsuchikage-sama. Our men met heavy resistance behind the gates and going above the walls was a failure too." Replied the jonin.

Onoki was about to give out new orders to his jonin when he felt a strong gush of wind around his body. The older shinobi trusted his battle instincts and yelled to his men to move away from the spot as he jumped back himself. The Tsuchikage managed to leap back but his men weren't fast enough, as not a second later the five men that stood in that place had their body instantly cut in half.

Every Iwa shinobi on the field looked up in the sky to see something they had hoped to never see again, up in the sky stood the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. The man came back from the dead, trying to finish what he started all those years ago during the Third Great War.

"Namikaze Minato ! You will pay for your crimes against Iwagakure !" Roared the Tsuchikage.

Naruto looked amused by his opponent's confusion, but chose to formally introduce himself, not wanting to stay in his father's shadows.

"Are you going senile, old man ? I am Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, do not mistake me for my father." Said the blond with a smile as he sheathed his blade before going through hand signs.

"Protect Tsuchikage-sama !" Yelled Akatsuchi as he moved in front of his leader, others followed his example and moved around the Tsuchikage shortly after.

"**Futon : Dai Ten'Ka Furyu En'dan !"** Yelled Naruto as he expelled a giant Wind Dragon towards the Earth Kage. He was followed with perfect synchronization by Ryuoh, as the Dragon King took a deep breath before releasing a huge torrent of black flames on the same target.

Seeing the speed and size of that attack, the Iwa nins decided to hold their position and went through hand signs too.

"**Doton : Doryuheki !"** They yelled, as several stone walls rose from the ground, creating a multilayer protection for their leader.

Naruto's combo attack impacted the stone walls, however, instead of dispelling itself, it started to melt the defensive structure.

"**Foolish humans ! Did you think you could block the black flames of the Dragon King, now burn !"** Roared Ryuoh.

Before the Tsuchikage and his men could escape, Ryuoh came closer and started to flap his huge wings, stirring the fire attack around the stone wall, completely cutting off any chance of retreat they had. Cries of the suffering Iwa nins behind the wall could be heard and the foul smell of burnt flesh as well as lots of smoke rose from there.

Naruto was about to turn around and go attack the remaining Iwa nins when he saw a shadow rapidly exiting the cloud of smoke. A greatly burnt and bleeding Onoki could be seen, thrown by his personal bodyguard Akatsuchi, with the last force the big man had before he fell down and died from his multiple injuries.

"**Doton : Kengan no jutsu !"** Called Onoki, as his fist was encased in rock, then with his free hand he made another hand sign before calling a new jutsu, **"Doton : Chokajugan no jutsu **!", dramatically increasing the weight of his punch. With the momentum given by his bodyguard's throw, the Sandaime Tsuchikage managed to deliver a highly powerful punch to Naruto.

The blond was knocked off his summon creature and was falling to the ground in great speed. Onoki did not stop there, he went through hand signs and called another jutsu.

"**Jinton : Genkai Hakuri no jutsu !"** The same dust technique that almost took out every Kage during the meeting and the technique that destroyed the gates of the fortress was used to trap the giant dragon.

Before the Iwa leader could activate the destruction phase of his technique, Naruto made a single hand sign to dispel Ryuoh.

"**Kai !" **Yelled the young man as the dragon king was sent back to the Summoning World before Naruto continued his fall and impacted the ground with great velocity.

"Finish him, do not let him any chance to stand up again !" Yelled Onoki to his troops on the ground.

A large group of Iwa nins started to run towards the spot where Naruto fell, only to be blasted away by a strong gush of wind. When the blond stood up, he didn't have his jacket on anymore and his two dark wings were rising behind his back, as he used them to slow down his fall.

"**Futon : Muga no Kyouchi !"** Yelled Naruto as he opened his initial bloodline mode.

The blond then unsheathed his blade and started to cast his personal genjutsu field, **"Futon : Maboroshi no Sekai !"** as the Iwa nins were surrounding him again.

His enemies stood no chance, upon entering the illusion field, they lost control of most of their senses, allowing the blond leaf jonin to easily kill them. From outside the field, Onoki was analyzing the fight, seeing his shinobi randomly missing their target, or totally oblivious to the Namikaze's movements, as he went to kill them from behind.

The old Kage somehow knew that those were the famed genjutsu skills of the Kaze no Kami that could not be detected nor dispelled.

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><p><strong>Samurai's Fortress<strong>

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><p>From inside the base, the Alliance was doing fine, holding off the successive waves of Iwagakure's elite forces. The shinobi could see Naruto fighting outside the base, most were unaware of his skills and looks of admiration and disbelief could be seen on their faces.<p>

"Still powerful as ever, Naruto-kun." Smiled the Mizukage, remembering his fight against Yagura.

"Look at him going, he is definitively that man's son." Said the Raikage.

"Seeing it during a spar was one thing, but to see him using his skills in a real fight is really something else ..." Mused Tsunade as she saw Naruto killing of dozens of Iwagakure's bests.

"I'll never be able to repay him the IOU at this rate ..." Said Gaara looking at his friend.

Mifune was silently watching Naruto's actions, still keeping his men in line.

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><p><strong>Battlefield<strong>

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><p>Seeing his men slaughtered by the Namikaze heir, Onoki ordered his men to stop their advance on the blond.<p>

It was at that moment that Kurotsuchi joined her grandfather on the front line, her eyes widened at the sight of the countless dead bodies on the ground, including Akatsuchi.

"Jiji, what the hell happened ?" Yelled the brunette.

Onoki instinctively turned back his head to see his granddaughter, however that moment of inattention cost him dearly. Naruto saw the old Kage looking away and fell into his long range kenjutsu style.

"**Futon : Kamishini no Yari !"** Said Naruto as his blade glowed.

Feeling the familiar gush of wind, Onoki cursed as he saw that Kurotsuchi was just behind him, evading the attack would most likely spell the death of his granddaughter.

The old Kage stood his ground and took Naruto's attack with his already weakened and burnt body with no intention to evade. The deadly wind spear went right through his heart, leaving a gaping hole in its place then he slowly fell to the ground.

Kurotsuchi ran to him, only to see that she could not do anything to save him anymore.

"Jiji ! Wake up please !" Yelled the kunoichi with tears in her eyes.

"Kuro-chan ? Where are we ? What is going on ?" Asked the old man.

Naruto's eyes widened at the scene in front of him, starting to understand what was happening.

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><p><strong>Remote Location<strong>

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><p>"Looks like it's time for us to go, Hidan." Said Kakuzu.<p>

"Finally, let's get wild !" Replied Hidan as they both used **Shunshin**.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Akatsuki is finally on the move, next time Naruto faces the Immortal duo.

Lots more of Naruto's screen time this chapter, hope you enjoyed seeing him kicking some major Iwa ass.

Is the siege over ? How will Naruto or Kurotsuchi react after Onoki's death ?

Read the next issue to know the answers to those questions.

As usual please Read and Review.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

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><p><strong>Futon : Dai Ten'Ka Furyu En'dan<strong> , Great Blazing Wind Dragon Combination. Naruto combines his wind dragon with Ryuoh's black fire.

Those aren't new jutsu but it's been a while since Naruto used them so here we go :

**Futon : Muga no Kyouchi** , translates as the State of Self Actualization. Naruto always had it from the moment he finished his training with Natsuki after those six years but just used it subconsciously. In this state, his control over the wind element in an area of his choice increases greatly. You may compare it with the initial "opening" of Gai and Lee's Gates system, only applied to wind control.

**Futon : Maboroshi no Sekai** , translates as the World of Illusions. Naruto's way to cast his own genjutsu field. Inside his zone of influence, he can control his opponent's senses the same way a classic genjutsu would but without the need to 'inject' his chakra into their brains.

**Senpo : Ryu no Hada** , translates as Sage Arts : Dragon Skin. One of Naruto's basic defense in dragon sage mode. He deploys his two wings around his body to protect him from an attack. The scales on those wings are extremely durable and can withstand most elemental attacks.

**Senpo : Ryugan** , translates as Sage Arts : Dragon Sight. Naruto gains the sight of the dragon, increasing greatly his vision field, accuracy and perception. With those eyes activated, Naruto has the ability to see detailed images at a very far distance. His mind is processing the visual information a lot quicker too, allowing him to see fast moving objects as if they were in slow motion. Finally, he is also granted the power to see perfectly fine during the night as if he was in broad daylight.

**Futon : Kamishini no Yari** , translates as God Killing Spear. Upgraded version of Naruto's Divine Wind Spear. The reach and speed of this attack is enormous, a lot more chakra taxing though.


	37. The Immortals

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>It seems most of the readers were satisfied with the way the siege went last chapter. Don't forget to activate your private message function in your profiles if you ask a question in a review.<p>

Now to answer someone who asked about the long range kenjutsu attack and why it didn't kill both Onoki and Kurotsuchi, well let's just say that Naruto has enough control to retract it once it reaches its target. That, and I have plans for Kuro-chan so she cannot die just yet :)

I'm glad you all enjoyed the Dragon King's participation, this won't be the last of him you see. Someone wondered about **Amaterasu** when I used black flames for him, but no, those aren't the famous flames that burn for seven days and seven nights. Those are just more powerful type of flames than the classic ones.

Finally, I will concede that true Samurai would not run away from a battle like that, and all the stuff about their code of honor and all. I'll ask those offended by how I portrayed those Samurai to get past that, this is an alternate universe after all and not feudal Japan and they were greatly outmatched in both numbers and skills.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 37: The Immortal Brothers<strong>

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

Naruto watched as Onoki was living his last moments, held by his granddaughter.

Onoki raised a hand trying to reach Kurotsuchi's face, the kunoichi lowered her head in order to help him. The Sandaime Tsuchikage slowly caressed her cheek as he used to do in her childhood.

"Kuro-chan, you need to lead our people now, be ..." He had to stop in the middle of his sentence as he started to cough out blood, "Be careful of the masked one ..." said the old man.

"What are you talking about, Jiji ?" Asked a confused Kurotsuchi, trying to repress her tears and completely ignoring the fact that he just named her his successor, as the Yondaime Tsuchikage.

"It all started with him, … , the Sharingan ..." Said Onoki with his last breath, as his hand slowly fell to the ground, he closed his eyes to never open them again.

Naruto slowly made his way towards them, trying to understand what was going on. They had gone quite far away from the fortress during the fight, and with Naruto taking down most of Onoki's personal guards, the only ones left were Naruto and Kurotsuchi.

"I'm sorry for your loss but he left me no choice ..." Naruto said once he was near enough for Kurotsuchi to hear him.

"It wasn't Jiji, he would have never acted like this. This battle … this war, it doesn't benefit Iwagakure in any way, I just don't understand." Replied Kurotsuchi.

"Did he say something to you ?" Asked Naruto.

"He told me to be careful of someone wearing a mask, and it also has to do with a Sharingan wielder. I'm not sure what he meant by that." Kurotsuchi said, still holding the body of her grandfather in her arms.

Naruto began to form theories in his mind about this strange turn of events, though he needed to confirm something else with Kurotsuchi first.

"Did he always want to have his revenge against Konoha and its allies or did something change recently ?" Asked the blond.

"Jiji never liked the Leaf or its allies, that much is true, but he wasn't someone who held grudges either. Everything changed just after he received the summon for the Kage Meeting. I couldn't recognize him anymore and he didn't listen to anyone, he was determined to destroy the Leaf from that moment." Replied the brunette.

This reminded Naruto of Yagura and the way he abruptly changed from a peaceful leader to a tyrant. The two situations were so similar that it couldn't be a coincidence.

"I believe you ..." Naruto started and watched the Iwa kunoichi in front of him whose name he still didn't know.

"Kurotsuchi, jonin of Iwagakure. The Tsuchikage was my grandfather. Well I guess I'm no jonin anymore since he named me his successor." She replied.

"I am Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, jonin of Konoha. What happened to your grandfather strongly reminds me of the events that took place in Kirigakure. Yagura's behavior also changed overnight and I think that both of them were being controlled by someone else." Said Naruto.

"How could that be ? We're talking about two Kage level shinobi here, one being a jinchuriki and the other one, my grandfather, was a very experienced fighter." Kurotsuchi countered, not believing Naruto's assumptions.

"I don't know who, but it most likely has to do with the Sharingan. Those eyes hold great powers and I wouldn't be surprised if one of those powers was about mind control or something close to that." Replied Naruto.

"I don't know what to think anymore ..." Said a confused Kurotsuchi.

"It's not that hard, really. Do you want everyone to remember your grandfather for his actions during that meeting and as the one who doomed Iwagakure or will you come back with me and help to clear his name and honor ?" Asked the Namikaze as he held out his hand to her.

Kurotsuchi hesitated for a moment, but then she remembered her time with her grandfather during her childhood, the one who was nice and gentle with her, just like he was during his last moments. She decided to accept Naruto's help and took his hand.

"I really hope you're right, Naruto-san. Jiji made me his successor but I don't know how to lead. I'm not sure the men will follow me or if they will believe in your story." Kurotsuchi said, as she stood back up with Naruto's help.

"Our first priority is to stop this meaningless battle, enough blood has been spilled already, don't you think, Tsuchikage-dono ?" Asked Naruto with a smirk, trying to ease the atmosphere.

"R-Right, let me take my grandfather's body first." Replied Kurotsuchi, slightly blushing as she quickly let go of Naruto's hand that she was still holding.

The Iwa kunoichi made her way to Onoki's body but before she could lift it up, she was pushed to the ground by Naruto.

"W-What do you think you're doing ? Get off me, you pervert !" Yelled the brunette, before noticing that Naruto wasn't looking at her.

"Well well, what do we have here ? Must be our lucky day, Hidan. The Sandaime Tsuchikage's dead body, his granddaughter and the Kaze no Kami, quite a collection of high bounties." Said a man Naruto didn't recognize, though he knew he was from Akatsuki, with the clothes he was wearing.

"You can have the girl and the old man's body, Kakuzu. However the blond is mine, so don't get in my way." Said a second person, again wearing the Akatsuki gears.

"_Damn, I didn't expect to run into Akatsuki members. She obviously won't abandon her grandfather's body but I need her cooperation to end this war … There's no other choice, I'll have to deal with those two. I hope my training will be enough, never tested the new technique in a real fight yet."_ Analyzed Naruto as he stood back up and prepared his next move.

"Keep your guard up and protect your grandfather's body, I'll take care of them." Announced the blond jonin as Kurotsuchi thankfully nodded back.

"Aren't we cocky, I will be your opponent. I'll send your soul to Jashin-sama, the only true God." Said the man identified as Hidan.

"_Jashin ? Where did I heard about it already ?" _Thought Naruto as he formed a **Reinforced** **Kage Bunshin** loaded with half of his remaining chakra and then placed it in front of Kakuzu. Not taking any risk, in the event the second Akatsuki member changes his mind and decides to participate in the fight.

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><p><strong>Naruto versus Hidan<strong>

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><p>Naruto focused his attention on Hidan and then released one of his ultimate bloodline form with his real body.<p>

"**Futon : Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami !"** Yelled the blond as the first coma of his bloodline tattoo disappeared, the circle around them had already been activated when he opened the **Muga no Kyouchi**.

The silver haired Akatsuki member charged at him like a mad man, extending his strange weapon towards the blond, a triple bladed scythe. Naruto decided to use kenjutsu too and unsheathed his own katana as they clashed.

With his perfected body enhancement mode activated, Naruto had no trouble evading every thrust of Hidan's weapon. Moving twice as fast as his original speed while his opponent was twice as slow as his usual speed made the fight quite easier for the blond.

After a few minutes into the fight, Naruto came to the conclusion that either his opponent was really weak or he was hiding something else behind his random attacks. The fact that the Akatsuki member did not use anything else than his weapon was also really strange, so Naruto decided to test a little bit more of his opponent's abilities.

Taking a step back, Naruto unsealed a kunai and launched it towards Hidan then went through hand signs as he called his move.

"**Futon : Tsubame Gaeshi !"** Yelled the leaf jonin. The kunai missed Hidan by a large margin, then abruptly change its course before multiplying itself into ten more kunai, all aimed at the back of the unsuspecting Akatsuki member.

Naruto didn't try to avoid hitting vital organs as the kunai hit several of them. Hidan never expected the attack to hit him and was currently on the ground, cursing Naruto but other than that he didn't seem like he was going to die any time soon.

The Akatsuki member slowly stood up and took out every kunai embedded in his back. He then resumed his attacks on Naruto, still only using his scythe.

"_It seems he has a very high tolerance to pain, though his surrounding awareness is quite lacking. Still no signs of ninjutsu or genjutsu usage, only light taijutsu and most of his attacks are based on his weapon."_ Thought Naruto as he tried to think of a new approach.

"Are you really an Akatsuki member ? Is there really such a lack of decent missing nin that they would feel the need to take in some idiot who can't even use any ninja arts ?" Taunted the blond, trying to gauge his opponent's reaction.

He wasn't disappointed as Hidan totally lost control of his emotions and blindly charged in, leaving his stance full of openings that Naruto immediately saw. The blond powered up a simple **Futon Rasengan** and slammed it into his charging opponent's ribcage. The wind powered chakra orb tore through Hidan's body, leaving a gaping hole in its path.

Seeing no point in wasting time any longer, Naruto channeled wind chakra through his blade and with a single swift movement he cut off Hidan's head.

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><p><strong>With Kakuzu<strong>

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><p>The clone Naruto left in front of the second Akatsuki member watched the fight between the original Naruto and Hidan. Seeing no reaction from the missing nin when Hidan lost his head, Naruto's clone decided to win some time and started to power up.<p>

"**Futon : Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami !"** Yelled the clone as he activated the ultimate wind control form of his bloodline and the second comma of his tattoo disappeared.

Noticing Naruto's clone powering up, Kakuzu, still not fazed by his partner's apparent death turned his head back to face the clone.

"I'm not sure it was wise to let your friend face me alone like you did. Do not to worry though, you will meet him soon enough." Said a smirking Naruto trying to get a reaction out of his new enemy.

Kakuzu remained strangely calm, not showing any sign of irritation from either losing his associate or from Naruto's taunts. The missing nin slowly took off his coat and threw it aside. His body was covered with stitches, Kurotsuchi who stood not far from there almost puked at the disturbing sight.

Kakuzu then crouched down, the stitches all over his body were starting to loosen and suddenly, another disturbing scene took place as four separate bodies jumped out of the Akatsuki member's back.

Each entity were held together by hundreds of thick black threads to form humanoid forms, with heads, legs and arms. The four bodies had different ANBU like animal masks that covered their face and each mask had a different design and color.

Leaving no time for Naruto to further analyze them, the creatures moved out in separate directions while Kakuzu started to go through hand signs.

"**Katon : Zukokku !"** Yelled Kakuzu as the creature wearing a mask with red markings opened its mouth to fire powerful fireballs in rapid succession towards Naruto.

With his ultimate sensory mode activated, Naruto could easily predict the direction, speed and amplitude of the jutsu and evaded every fireball sent to him. He also felt the other creatures moving around him while the first one was firing Katon techniques at him.

"**Futon : Atsugai !"** Called Kakuzu as the creature with blue markings appeared behind Naruto and released a huge blast of wind towards its target.

Feeling the wind charged jutsu, Naruto did not even try to evade. The blond simply extended his hands in his back and absorbed the wind technique, as his control over that element was far greater than Kakuzu's.

At the exact same time Naruto was blocking the previous wind jutsu, the two remaining entities appeared on both sides and Kakuzu called out two new techniques.

"**Suiton : Teppodama – Raiton : Gian !"** Announced Kakuzu as the creature with the light blue markings shot huge water bullets towards Naruto, creating a large puddle of water on the floor as the jinchuriki evaded them all. The last monster with yellow markings then fired lightning bolts all around them, taking advantage of the water puddle increase their ranges.

Naruto had to deploy his Dragon Wings in order to evade the death trap of those two combined elements.

"Very impressive, boy. You're the first one to have ever evaded that combination of jutsu, after your Shodaime Hokage." Said Kakuzu.

Naruto's eyes widened at this, realizing that his opponent had already faced Konoha's first Hokage in battle in his past. Furthermore; seeing Kakuzu's current body condition, he understood that the Akatsuki member most likely had an immortality technique like Orochimaru, if he seemingly remained this young while the Shodaime's era was almost a century ago.

The blond jonin also realized that during his fight with the creatures, each time, before they could launch a jutsu against him, Kakuzu had to actually go through hand signs and call the techniques himself before his pets could really fire them. Naruto continued to easily evade every attempts from the thread monsters against him while analyzing Kakuzu's movements to confirm his previous assumptions.

Seeing that he was indeed correct about Kakuzu's fighting style, he decided to slowly move around the Akatsuki member. He waited until Kakuzu was about to fire another jutsu to suddenly unsheathe his katana and called his own jutsu, **"Futon : Kamishini no Yari !"** and his blade started to glow.

However, before Naruto could launch his wind spear, he had to cancel it at the last moment to block an attack he was definitively not expecting. Behind him, stood Hidan with his head stitched back to his body and his scythe an inch away from cutting his head off.

The blond turned away to see the original as surprised as he was, certain that he had already finished off the silver haired shinobi by cutting his head off. He then saw what appeared to be the same black threads that came out from Kakuzu, sticking out of the ground.

"Damn it, so you're both immortal freaks … Hood Monster used his threads to stitch the Incompetent Moron's head back ..." Mused Naruto out loud, quite proud of the nicknames he gave them.

Before his enemies could team up against him, the real Naruto decided to go all out this time, he fell into a strange stance with his palm joined together in a prayer movement and called a new technique.

"You leave me no choice, time to get serious." Said the blond.

"Hidan let's go, we cannot afford to underestimate him any longer. Whatever he has in store we can't let him use it !" Yelled Kakuzu as they both ran towards the true Naruto.

"Too late ..." Said the leaf jonin with a smirk, **"Futon : Ten'i Muho no Kiwami !"** he yelled as a sudden explosion combined with a blinding flash of light erupted in the area.

As the dust settled down and the flashing light slowly faded, the two Akatsuki members, who had been pushed back by the violent explosion, could finally see their target again. The blond's eyes were now glowing, he had a thin green aura around his entire body.

"Now let's see you both fight against the Wind itself ..."

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Someone had already guessed how things would go with Kurotsuchi and Naruto, how he could figure out the similarities with Yagura's case.

Now onto the confrontation with Hidan and Kakuzu. There is no way in hell that someone like Hidan who doesn't have anything else than his scythe could hope to ever defeat the current Naruto in my story. The curse thing only work if he can touch him, not an easy feat right now …

Kakuzu had better chance but well against Naruto's wind "Sharingan", it will also be hard to connect with his ninjutsu alone. Next chapter is the both of them against Naruto with his last ultimate form, I'll let you guess what it does until next time :)

As usual please Read and Review.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

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><p><strong>Futon : Ten'i Muho no Kiwami<strong> , translates as the Pinnacle of Perfect Unity. Combines both advantages given to Naruto by opening the two other modes. Increases his control and understanding of the wind element to the limit, allowing him to become the wind itself.

Will be further explained next issue to not spoil the readers :)

As last time, not new moves but as a reminder:

**Futon : Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami** , translates as the Pinnacle of Great Wisdom. To use in combination with the Muga no Kyouchi, it allows Naruto to go deeper into his 'understanding' of the wind around him. In this state, Naruto can 'feel' the sightliest movement of air particles in his field of action around him, enabling for him to 'predict' his opponent's movements and then adjust his counters accordingly.

**Futon : Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami** , translates as the Pinnacle of Great Work. This is Naruto's second ultimate form. In this form, his control over the wind is amplified tenfold. This allows Naruto the use of the wind to increase his speed and power by reducing the air resistance to all his movements and jutsu. At the same time, it increases the wind resistance for his enemies, forcing them to double their effort while he only uses half of his strength to reach the same result.


	38. True Wind

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>I had an interesting comment concerning the last chapter, stating that Naruto was winning all his fights and that it took the suspense away, making the story somewhat predictable. That is true but even if you know he will win the fight, you don't know how. Knowing the strength of his enemies and seeing him struggle to defeat them with those original powers is what I tried to write.<p>

Now, we're close to the end of this arc. I saw some reviews expecting Naruto to become the second coming of God during this chapter. You have to realize there are still some formidable enemies out there, so I can't have Naruto play the invincible Wind God just yet. All I'll say is that he's slowly but surely getting there :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 38: True Wind<strong>

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><p><strong>Battlefield<strong>

Naruto stood in front of the two undying Akatsuki members, one of them had had his head cut off while the other one still looked like he was in his prime, an impossible fact for someone who had battled the Shodaime Hokage, about a century ago. Yet they were still alive, currently facing the Namikaze heir. The Leaf jonin came to the conclusion that he was doomed to lose this battle if he continued to fight against them without upping his game.

Consequently he unleashed his newest technique, **Ten'i Muho no Kiwami**, the combination of his bloodline's two ultimate forms. While **Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami** enhanced his mind powers, **Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami** was the enhancement of his physical abilities. The final form gave the balance of the two, yin and yang, the perfect harmony that allowed him to become one with the Wind.

Naruto remembered his training days in the Summoning World, trying to reach that level after he modified his seal that was holding back Natsuki's youki.

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><p><em><span>Flashback<span> – Dragon's Realm_

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><p><em>Naruto fell to his knees, heavily panting after he failed again to access his final form.<em>

_It had already been a week since he came back from the Toad's Realm, after getting the Key to modify the **Shiki Fuujin** in order to lift the restriction his father placed on him when he sealed Natsuki._

_Each enhancement form of his bloodline consumed four tails worth of youki, the original gate already consuming one tail. Unlocking the nine tails should have allowed him to accomplish his goal of combining the two modes, but he somehow failed each time he tried._

_Of course, repetitively using up all of his youki reserves put a heavy strain on his body and he couldn't practice as much as he wanted._

_He had tried everything he could think of, but he did not succeed, his concentration or control wasn't high enough._

_He tried different strategies, first accessing the **Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami** and then trying to activate the **Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami**, then the other way around but nothing worked._

"_**It seems you're still far from achieving the final form of your bloodline, Naruto."** Said Ryuoh as he watched Naruto's training._

"_I don't know what I'm doing wrong, this is so frustrating. I can perform each mode alone but trying to activate them both is impossible." Replied the blond to the Dragon King._

"_**From what I see, the control required to activate each of your ultimate abilities already takes every control you can muster. I know It may be hard to hear, but that could be the highest level of control you will ever be able to reach. You are still a human being, that is your limitation, no one expect you to be able to look left and right at the same time."** Said Ryuoh, not realizing he just gave away the key to succeed to Naruto._

"_Stupid, stupid … I'm so stupid, of course there's a way ! It was the same with the **Rasenshuriken **after all, I have to give it a try !" The young dragon summoner's eyes widened, listening to Ryuoh's speech._

"_**Not that I'm not amused by seeing you finally realize that you're an idiot, but did you just figure out a way to activate the technique ?"** Asked Ryuoh with an amused voice._

"_I think I did, the answer is this !" Replied Naruto as he formed a familiar hand sign and called out a jutsu._

"_**Kage Bunshin no jutsu !"** Yelled the blond as a copy of himself appeared next to him, then each of them went to open a different mode of the bloodline._

_Ryuoh watched from his position as Naruto and his clone each went in a different mode of his bloodline. When the activation stabilized Naruto then did a single hand sign again, dispelling the clone. An explosion then shook the entire area, as well as a blinding light illuminated the dark night as if they were in the middle of the day._

_That night, the Dragon King was the first to witness the first human being to have ever reached that stage in the wind element manipulation._

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><p><em><span>End of flashback<span>_

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><p>The two Akatsuki members looked at each other, trying to figure out their next move.<p>

"Let's do it the usual way, Kakuzu." Said Hidan.

"Fine, it was a mistake to underestimate him. Let's put an end to this fight, the leader won't be happy if we fail this mission." Replied Kakuzu.

Hidan then jumped in front of Kakuzu, as the hooded shinobi gathered his ninjutsu throwing creatures. The one with Suiton and Raiton techniques merged together and the two remaining ones, responsible for launching Katon and Futon jutsu did the same. Seeing his partner ready to resume the fight, the scythe wielder shinobi then launched himself towards Naruto.

Hidan engaged Naruto in another close contact fight, however he was supported by Kakuzu's reinforced creatures this time. His lack of ninjutsu was covered by those monsters and their high level techniques. During all this, Kakuzu stood back controlling his beasts from a safe distance.

During their previous encounter, Naruto already had no difficulty to evade Hidan's attacks with his accelerated metabolism while tampering with his opponent's speed. This time, the silver haired shinobi couldn't even perform an attack as Naruto could now also predict his every moves. Moreover, with their amplified difference in speed the blond was already in position to strike him in his blind spots each time before Hidan could even finish his own attacks.

This brought on the current situation, with Naruto predicting that Hidan was going to try a large swing of his scythe around him. The blond jonin was already in a crouching position in front of his opponent by the time Hidan raised his arms in order to execute his move.

"First lesson, taijutsu." Announced Naruto as he appeared in front of Hidan.

"**Futon : Shin'Zou Hakai !"** Yelled Naruto as he trusted both his palm towards Hidan's ribcage.

Hidan felt his heart explode, as the air from within his body was forcibly controlled and then expelled inside out. The jutsu caused an internal explosion as the air trapped inside his lungs, tried to escape the missing ninja's body. The result was the disturbing scene of Hidan's upper body exploding in a shower of blood and body parts. Only the lower part of his body from the waist to the feet were left untouched.

"You may still be alive by whatever jutsu you're using but I'd like to see the other freak trying to patch you back after this ..." Announced Naruto as he rapidly leaped back to avoid another combo attack from the masked creatures.

The Suiton / Raiton beast tried to catch him again in a combo attack but Naruto jumped in the air to avoid it. He was followed by the second beast but before it could fire another attack, Naruto made the first move.

"Second lesson, ninjutsu." He said as he extended an arm towards the monster, opening his hand as if he was trying to catch it even though they were not quite close enough, much like Gaara when he was performing the **Sabaku Kyu**.

"**Futon : Kuroi Ana !"** Yelled Naruto as he slowly closed his hand to form a fist.

A singularity appeared behind Kakuzu's creature who was still airborne, then suddenly the wind violently picked up as everything around seemed to be drawn towards the singularity, including the beast. Naruto was the only one unaffected, as even Kurotsuchi and Kakuzu, who were still far from the scene, had to apply chakra to their feet in order to not get caught in the jutsu as well.

Naruto hold his fist closed for a few more seconds and when he finally opened his hand again, it caused a huge blast at the exact point where the air was being drawn to. The creature that he caught was totally destroyed as it was in the center of the blast zone. The only remaining parts were the two masks that slowly fell to the ground, broken beyond repairs.

"Third lesson, genjutsu." Called Naruto as he looked at the remaining masked beast.

"**Futon : Kyouka Suigetsu !"** Yelled Naruto before he slowly disappeared before Kakuzu's stunned gaze.

Kakuzu was still looking for Naruto when his creature suddenly acted weird. It moved around as if it was being pushed but there was nothing around it. Kakuzu tried to dispel an undetected genjutsu but found nothing even after he flared his chakra. The masked beast was still being pushed around but there were no trace of Naruto's presence, no sound, no smell, nothing.

This made no sense to the Takigakure missing nin, no genjutsu could interact on a physical level with its target, even Itachi's ultimate genjutsu, the **Tsukyomi** could only attack and destroy his opponent's minds, not their bodies.

He was unaware that the blond did indeed activate his ultimate genjutsu. His newly increased mastery over the wind element was so high that he could totally mask his presence, becoming invisible, making no sound as he moved around or punched his target, emitting no heat nor smell. Using this jutsu, he was able to completely dominate his opponent's five senses.

Kakuzu suddenly saw a fading image of Naruto appearing, hidden behind a large tree. He discretely sent the beast towards him and it launched another combo attack towards the unsuspecting blond. The jutsu went through its target and Kakuzu cursed as he knew that it was just an illusion. He didn't understand however why the illusion didn't dispel on contact.

His eyes widened though as the illusion took out its sword and slashed at the masked monster, completely destroying the two masks in one swing before it slowly faded again. Naruto could already create very convincing illusions in the past, but now he could also make them interact on the physical level with his targets, emulating everything he wanted them to project, presence, footsteps, heat, breathing sounds and even make them fight by simulating punches or sword swings with his wind.

The real Naruto then appeared in front of Kakuzu seconds later, smirking.

"Did you enjoy my ultimate genjutsu ? Anyway, it looks like it's just you and I from now on." Said the leaf jonin with a mocking tone.

Kakuzu was an experienced fighter, even if Hidan was still alive there was no way in hell he could gather every pieces of his broken body and sew them back together with Naruto around. He also knew that with four hearts destroyed out of his five, he was definitely in a situation where even he, someone who lived for more than a century, could die from the blond's next assault. He was now evaluating his chances to escape and outrun the jinchuriki.

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><p><strong>With Kurotsuchi<strong>

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><p>The newly appointed Yondaime Tsuchikage was intently watching Naruto's battle against the Akatsuki members. She was already highly impressed by the blond's display of skills when he managed to fight off Hidan and Kakuzu separately.<p>

When they teamed up against the leaf jonin, she thought about joining him to fend them off, not matter how powerful he may have been, going against two S-Rank missing nins should have been impossible. However, she decided against it as he once again managed to prevail.

She could see that he indeed deserved his moniker as the Kaze no Kami. It seems like he could do absolutely everything with his wind affinity, just like his bingo book profile said. Some of the techniques he showed were out of this world, she was particularly impressed by Naruto's ultimate genjutsu, being herself well versed in the art as well.

By the end of the fight, she came to the conclusion that the Iwagakure could not afford to have this man as an enemy. If they remained hostile, he would become a threat of the Yondaime Hokage's level when the man was still alive. Stopping the war and establishing a peace treaty with Konoha became the number one priority in her mind as the new Kage of her village.

Hell, after seeing what he could do in this fight, she began to think that she and the rest of Iwagakure's task force that was sent here, being able to go back home alive was nothing short of a miracle.

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>"Are you ready for the next lesson ?" Asked Naruto, as Kakuzu was still thinking about his next move.<p>

Naruto was about to speak again when the Akatsuki member suddenly moved, not trying to run away as Naruto thought he would, but towards Kurotsuchi's direction. The missing nin ran at full speed towards his target.

"Your heart will replace one of those that damn jinchuriki destroyed !" Yelled Kakuzu as he was about to strike the unprepared Tsuchikage.

He had changed his body structure again, deploying once more the strange threads that he was using to build his ninjutsu creatures. Naruto was able to determine that those were used to steal the hearts of his opponent's victims in order to create those monsters he was using during the fight.

Kurotsuchi had no time to react, as Kakuzu had already reached her position before she could even blink. She closed her eyes, expecting the incoming pain but strangely nothing happened. When the new Tsuchikage opened her eyes, all she saw was a white flash.

"Hi-Hiraishin …" Muttered the young woman, completely stunned to see the famous jutsu that caused her village to lose the Third Great War.

Kakuzu's eyes widened as he saw Naruto appearing right between Kurotsuchi and himself. He felt a blinding pain coming from his stomach and when he looked down, he understood why.

Naruto had unsheathed his katana and taking advantage of Kakuzu's lack of attention, he stabbed the missing nin right in his gut.

"Well, fuinjutsu wasn't really part of the last lesson." Mused the blond out loud.

"W-When did you mark me with that damn jutsu ?" Asked Kakuzu, not remembering any close contact with his opponent.

"I didn't mark you, she's the one I marked." Answered Naruto while looking at Kurotsuchi.

Said woman's eyes widened when she understood.

"When you took my hand to help me stand up ..." She absentmindedly said.

"Precisely, Tsuchikage-dono." Replied Naruto with a smile.

"I hope you won't take it the wrong way, I meant what I said when I gave you my trust. It was for your own safety as not everyone is as forgiving as I am. I wasn't sure the others from the alliance would have let me the time to explain the situation to them, before they'd try something against you." Naruto added, not losing sight of his real goal to stop ongoing the war.

He smiled as Kurotsuchi nodded her head in acknowledgment of his actions.

"Now, where were we ? Ah yes, the last lesson is kenjutsu." Announced Naruto.

"**Futon : Doku Kyuzou !"** Yelled the blond as his blade glowed.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but suddenly Kakuzu fell to his knees and started to scream his lungs out in pain.

"W-What did you do to me ?" He asked Naruto.

"I guess I can tell you, as you will die soon enough. While developing a ninjutsu of mine, I discovered that I could control my wind powers to target my opponent's chakra circulatory system. The technique created thousands of microscopic wind needles that severed my opponent's chakra pathways, interacting to the cellular level. This is what I injected into your body when I used my katana." Naruto replied as he took back his katana and sheathed it.

Kakuzu died shortly after that and Naruto collected his head. As the Namikaze went to retrieve Hidan's head, he was surprised to see that the zombie was still alive, even with only his head. He then sealed both heads in a scroll.

"Let us go back now, Tsuchikage-dono. We have a war to end, I'm sure everyone is worried about us." He said with a smile.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Akatsuki is finally losing some members … it was bloody time they did.

Naruto revealed part of his newest powers, many asked me in the first chapters why I did not have him blow out the air in his opponent's bodies, well that was reserved for this particular chapter as all conditions have now been cleared for him to.

As I said, there are still many 'bad guys' so I left him with godlike powers, yes, but he can still improve even more.

Yes, he knows the Hiraishin, he had the scroll for quite some time and trained for a long time in the sealing arts with the Uzumaki scroll, I'll let you do the math.

Next time is the epilogue of this arc and the introduction of a new one.

Follow the next issue to know more :)

As usual please Read and Review.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

The following moves require the **Ten'i Muho no Kiwami** to be activated.

**Futon : Shin'Zou Hakai** , translates as the Heart Implosion. Ultimate taijutsu move, upon contact Naruto can take control of the air present inside his opponent's body to deal extensive damage to them such as crushing their breathing organs.

**Futon : Kuroi Ana** , translates as the Black Hole. Ultimate ninjutsu that gathers the surrounding air into a single chosen point in space, pressurizing it to the limit. Then, Naruto can release the hold to create a gigantic decompression, generating a powerful blast.

**Futon : Kyouka Suigetsu** , translates as Mirror Flower Water Moon. Ultimate genjutsu move that takes control of Naruto's opponent's five senses, allowing him to completely mask his presence or even make his illusions dealing real damages while using wind manipulation.

**Futon : Doku Kyuzou** , translates as Poison Explosion. Ultimate kenjutsu move, allows Naruto to reproduced the effects done by the Rasenshuriken attack to his opponent's circulatory chakra system when cutting his opponents with his blade.


	39. Shinobi Alliance

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Earlier today, I went to check the in-box from the Email address I'm using for this site because I needed to retrieve some activation link from another site I just registered on. The thing is I don't really check that box that much, since I'm using some other Email for my professional communications.<p>

You will all laugh at me, but I didn't know that every time someone put my story in their favorite or alert list, I received an automatic mail from the site. It is the same with private messages and some other alerts things too. You can see the stats for my story in my profile, so imagine me discovering that my in-box contained more than two thousands mails from the site.

That was the start of one very exciting hour to sort through everything and delete those automatic mails …

I'm pretty new to this site, merely started to write this story a little bit more than one month ago, so I guess there are still things I don't now about this website :) Sorry about this mini-rant, I thought it could serve those who don't know about this "nice" feature.

Not much to say concerning the reviews I got from last chapter, overall positive reactions to Naruto's newest powers. Some of you are asking about Natsuki and her getting out of the seal, it's getting there don't worry, it will happen.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 39: Shinobi Alliance<strong>

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><p><strong>Samurai's Fortress<strong>

The battle was still going on, Iwagakure's elite forces were struggling to get inside the Samurai's base, defended by General Mifune's men and with the Alliance's shinobi defending the higher levels of the base.

The attacking side was the one with the most casualties so far, losing more than a hundred men. The Samurai forces had also lost around eighty men out of their three hundred so far while the Alliance had yet to lose any member among their ranks. Mifune's men were fiercely defending the main gate, knowing that if their enemy came to break their defensive line, they would be have no difficulty to invade the rest of the base.

After another failed wave, an Iwa officer with fifty men under his command was about to call for another charge when the sky suddenly darkened. The commander held up his arm, momentarily delaying the charge.

Looking up, everyone could see the appearance of a huge dragon flying above them with two people riding on its back. Each side could recognize the people on the Dragon's back, Kurotsuchi the Tsuchikage's granddaughter with Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, the Kaze no Kami from the Leaf.

Absolute silence, no one dare to move an inch as they all gazed at the new arrival, having a hard time figuring out why those two weren't hostile to each other.

"I guess we have their undivided attention, Tsuchikage-dono." Naruto said to the kunoichi riding behind him as he ordered his Dragon summon to get closer to the Fortress.

"What now ?" Asked Kurotsuchi, highly amazed by the result of their arrival on the battlefield.

"I guess it's time for you to take command of your men so that we can finally stop this battle." Replied the blond jonin with a smile as he put a hand on her shoulder.

The crowd was stunned again, as they saw a flashing light leaving the back of the Dragon summon to almost instantly land on top of the base's main gates.

Iwagakure's and the Alliance's most experienced warriors recognized the **Hiraishin** jutsu while the younger ones and the samurai could only gasp at what just happened.

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><p><strong>Battlefield<strong>

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><p>At the place where Naruto fought against Kakuzu and Hidan, remained the destroyed bodies of the two former Akatsuki members. Naruto took their heads and left the bodies to rot, not bothering himself to bury them.<p>

A shadow slowly rose from one of the tree, revealing Akatsuki's spying specialist, the enigmatic Zetsu. Zetsu was easily distinguished by two large Venus fly-trap like extensions that enveloped his head and upper body, giving him a plant-like appearance. When his extensions were open and his head became visible, it was revealed that Zetsu had short green hair, yellow eyes, and that his body had two different colored halves. His left side was completely white and the right side black with small white dots along his body.

"The leader won't be happy about this new development, the Kyuubi brat took down the immortal combo by himself." The white half said while Zetsu was making his way towards the two headless corpses.

"It's a good thing they don't know how important the rings are to us and the plan, otherwise they could have seriously slowed us down, with the number of member they were able to defeat so far." Replied the black half as Zetsu went to collect the two rings.

After recovering the rings, the Akatsuki member continued with the second task he came for. True to his Venus fly trap appearance, Zetsu is cannibal. He is tasked to eat those that have connection to Akatsuki, to make sure that any secret of Akatsuki wouldn't spill.

Zetsu then went to consummate the bodies of his two former associates, Hidan and Kakuzu. As appealing as Hidan's blown out internal organs or Kakuzu's stitched and poisoned bodies could be, the Akatsuki member did not left out a single part of their bodies.

He then disappeared shortly after being done with his first class "meal", using the same technique to blend in with the trees that he used when he first appeared on the scene.

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>Naruto was about to speak to the still silent crowd when he felt incoming movements towards his position. The speed and power output of the attacker was quite amazing and Naruto's eyes widened as he suddenly understood that the attack wasn't actually aimed at him.<p>

Kurotsuchi was facing the other way, towards the battlefield. She sadly gazed at the numerous dead bodies of Iwa shinobi laying on the ground in front of her. She saw the expecting faces of the still alive ninja that were now under her responsibility, even if they weren't aware of that fact just yet. The kunoichi never saw or felt the attack coming her way.

"**Raigyaku Suihei Choppu !"** Yelled the Raikage, as he performed a simple yet powerful horizontal chop from above Kurotsuchi's position with his **Raiton no Yoroi** activated, covering his entire body with lightning chakra.

"**Futon : Kazekiri !"** Replied Naruto as he instantly appeared in front of Kurotsuchi and extended the palm of his wind encased hand towards the Raikage's attack. The two attacks canceled each other but A angrily looked down, wondering why Naruto was covering for the Iwagakure's kunoichi.

"What's the meaning of this, Naruto-san ? What are you doing with her, and for that matter, do you even know who she is ?" Asked A, as the Raikage glared at the blond and his "guest".

"I know perfectly who she is, however I doubt you do." Said the blond jonin, as the Raikage raised an eyebrow at the strange reply. Before the Lightning Shadow could reply Naruto decided to explain himself.

"She is Kurotsuchi, granddaughter of Ryotenbin no Onoki and she was recently appointed Yondaime Tsuchikage after Onoki's death." Added Naruto, surprising the people on both sides of the walls.

"Naruto-san here is right, you all need to stand down and listen to me. We have all been played by the terrorist group named Akatsuki and I won't let my grandfather's death be in vain." Said Kurotsuchi, while looking down towards Iwagakure's troops.

The temporary commanding officer of Iwagakure's troops slowly made his way towards the gates, and knelt in front of it, before speaking to Kurotsuchi.

"My lady, You must understand that we will need more substantial proof than what you just said in order to stop this battle." Asked the man.

Kurotsuchi jumped down from her position and met with the commander. She was soon joined by Naruto and the four other Kage. Both Naruto and Kurotsuchi took out different sealing scrolls and applied chakra to them, unloading their content for everyone around to see.

Naruto unsealed the two Akatsuki's member's heads he cut off while Kurotsuchi unsealed Onoki's body. The Kage and the Iwa officer were familiar with the bingo book and could verify that Naruto indeed had in his possession the heads of the missing nin Hidan and Kakuzu.

"Those two match the report given to me, about those who abducted Yagura back in Kiri." The Mizukage said while looking at the heads.

"I can testify about Onoki-sama as well, what are your orders Tsuchikage-sama ?" Asked the officer, still kneeling in front of them.

"Gather our men and fall back to Iwagakure, the battle is over. I shall stay here with two bodyguards you will select among your men." Replied the brunette with authority, trying to fit with her new responsibilities.

"As you command, my Lady." Said the jonin as he slowly moved back to the troops.

"You did great, Tsuchikage-dono, very professional." Added a smirking Naruto, getting a dark glare from the new Tsuchikage.

"I will explain everything, I am vouching for her and she is under the Namikaze Clan protection until the end of this meeting." Said Naruto looking back towards the Kage.

The four Kage nodded their agreement to Naruto while Kurotsuchi was slightly surprised that Naruto would vouch for her under such circumstances, fully knowing what the Namikaze name meant for Iwagakure and her people.

With the exception of two ANBU level ninja selected to remain as an escort to the Yondaime Tsuchikage, every shinobi from Iwagakure left shortly after that, taking with them the bodies of the deceased and wounded. The samurai did the same on their end and the Kage meeting could finally resume after that.

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><p><strong>Meeting Room<strong>

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><p>The meeting room was furnished with new equipment, since with the fighting that happened during the first session many tables and seats were damaged. Now, each village took once more their allocated spaces, with the addition of jonin Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto currently in the middle of the room and Kurotsuchi taking Onoki's place.<p>

Mifune stood up and spoke first, as he initially did when everything started.

"Naruto-dono, if you could describe to us everything that happened between the time you left the fortress to charge into the enemy's lines, and the moment you came back on top of your summoning creature with Tsuchikage-dono." Asked the Samurai General.

Naruto nodded and gave a summary of the events that took place during that time. His fighting with Onoki and his guards and the death of the Sandaime Tsuchikage at his hands, along with a decent number of Iwagakure's elite jonin that were around them. The blond took a few seconds to look towards Kurotsuchi, who gave confirmation of what she saw and the way her grandfather died.

Naruto then explained his suspicion towards Akatsuki, describing the scene of Onoki's last moments and how the previous Kage couldn't remember anything. This time, Naruto turned his head to Mei and got a nod of confirmation from the Mizukage who explained that the same scene happened with Yagura when Naruto fought him.

Kurotsuchi then told them about the warning she received about the **Sharingan**. Tsunade stood from her seat and turned her head towards the spectators area.

"Kakashi, is it possible ? Can the **Sharingan** be used to program people of Yagura or Onoki's strength like that ?" The Hokage asked the only Sharingan wielder on their side.

"I would normally say no, Hokage-sama. A regular **Sharingan** shouldn't be able to produce such results, there are ways to counter its effect for strong people like the previous Kage from Kiri or Iwa, Gai here is quite adept in the ways to counter the effects of the **Sharingan**." Replied Kakashi, getting a nod from his eternal rival.

"Normally ? Explain yourself, Hatake." Asked the Raikage as he too, knew about the general info on the **Sharingan**.

"There is however another level for that doujutsu, the **Mangekyo Sharingan**. I don't know about Uchiha Sasuke, but it's pretty certain that his older brother Itachi did achieve that level. I wouldn't be surprised if he had something in his arsenal to ensnare people of higher caliber." Said the silver haired leaf jonin.

"I suppose that you have yourself reached that level, if you're here to talk about it." Asked A.

Kakashi looked towards Tsunade, getting a nod from her he finally replied.

"Yes, Raikage-dono, I did. Mine is still not fully operational though, as I'm not a true Uchiha, my control over it is somewhat lower than what I'd like it to be." Announced Kakashi, shocking everyone in the room.

"I think anything else we may say on the subject will remain pure conjectures at this point, investigations will be necessary." Mifune said, getting everyone to agree with his point of view.

Naruto then told them how he fought and won against the two Akatsuki members who jumped out of nowhere in order to prevent him and Kurotsuchi from stopping the battle. Tsunade was shocked upon learning that Kakuzu was someone who fought against Senju Hashirama, her grandfather and Shodaime Hokage. The others were also highly surprised when Naruto once again showed them Hidan's head from up close. The damn missing nin was still alive, with only his head remaining.

Konoha and more precisely Tsunade, was given custody over Hidan's remains, since the Godaime Hokage was a well know medical specialist. Her knowledge on the human body would be highly useful in extracting whatever information they could get from Hidan. Everyone was also aware of Konoha's Yamanaka Clan, and their famous mind reading abilities.

Seeing that every pieces of information was now known from every parties, Mifune stood up again and spoke up.

"It seems everyone here is in agreement that Iwagakure was part of an elaborate scheme from the terrorist group Akatsuki to divide and conquer us. An alliance has already been formed between Kumo, Kiri, Suna and Konoha before the previous battle took place. Will Iwagakure request membership inside the Alliance and will the current members of said alliance agree to it, is what I'd like to know now." Declared the General.

"Iwagakure requests entry into the Alliance and even if it wasn't premeditated, I would like to formally offer our deepest apologies for what happened during the previous meeting and the casualties the Samurai suffered during the following battle." Said Kurotsuchi as she bowed in front of her peers and Mifune.

"Sunagakure agrees to Iwagakure's request, Naruto's vouch is all I need to know." Said Gaara.

"Kirigakure also agrees, Akatsuki's plans must not succeed in turning us against each other." Mei said.

"Konohagakure will also agree. It is highly time we put our past behind us and work together for a better future." Tsunade said.

The Raikage was once more the only one hesitating, still plagued by his brother's disappearance. He took the time to consider all the pros and cons before he finally spoke.

"Kumogakure agrees too." Announced the Raikage, effectively granting Iwa entrance in the Alliance.

Kurotsuchi was happy that her grandfather's death wouldn't be meaningless. She could clear his name and get a lead on their enemies. Iwagakure was safe for now and they were even allowed to participate in the Alliance.

"This is an historical moment, for the first time since the beginning of the shinobi era, every major village has reached an agreement and are willing to fight as allies against a common enemy. Before we go any further though, I would like to point out that for this thing to work, we will need someone to lead the Alliance, someone who will inspire strength and confidence to us and fear to our enemies." Said the Samurai General.

"From what I've seen during the meetings and on the battlefield, it is my opinion that this responsibility should befall Uzumaki-san. I know some of you may find him too young to assume such a role but age has nothing to do with this." Said Mifune, shocking some of the people inside the room.

"He was the one who managed to calm down the men when the battle shifted to the opponent's advantage. He is also the one who helped to put an end to the battle by capturing and killing the true masterminds and bringing back Tsuchikage-dono with him. Finally he is someone whose purpose is to bring peace to the world, more importantly, he is someone who can inspire others to believe in that dream of his." Finished Mifune.

Konoha, Suna, Kiri and Iwa had nothing to say, believing Mifune to be right about his choice. Of course they were also all holding Naruto in high esteem for his actions to help them at one point in the past.

Kumo with the Raikage was still debating over the question, in normal circumstances, A would have never allowed such thing to happen but the young leaf jonin was the son of that man. The Yondaime Raikage had a very deep respect for Minato Namikaze and Naruto seemed as respectable as his father was from what he could see so far. He was also highly impressed by the Kaze no Kami when they briefly exchanged blows at the main gates and decided to trust his instincts.

With every leader agreeing to his proposal, Mifune could declare Naruto as the commander in chief of the Alliance's forces. The blond seemed a bit embarrassed when everyone looked up to him, waiting for some sort of speech.

"I am honored to have been tasked to command the combined forces of the Alliance. I think that our first priority is to locate and protect the last jinchuriki, the younger brother of Raikage-dono." Announced Naruto. A then knew he made the right choice when he accepted Naruto as the leader for the coalition.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Someone already knew my plan of having Naruto becoming the leader for the Alliance some chapters ago when I hinted Mifune discretely observing Naruto.

Changed some other things compared to canon manga, the Alliance may discover new leads with the retrieval of Hidan's head and Konoha's special mind readers techniques.

This chapter was the epilogue of this arc, next issue is the rescue mission to find Killer Bee. Read the next chapter to see how it goes :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	40. Octopus and Kidnappings

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>The epilogue for the previous arc was really well received, got the highest amount of hits on the story so far with 6.6 K hits from the day I released the chapter. While some of you did manage to guess I would make Naruto the Alliance's Leader, it was still a nice surprise for the others who didn't.<p>

Someone was confused about the activation of Naruto's wind bloodline true Ultimate form so I will briefly explain how it works. The State of Perfect Unity is the combined activation of both the Pinnacle of Great Work and the Pinnacle of Great Wisdom. This is all based on the fact that he unlocked the nine tails of youki from Natsuki.

Naruto first activates the initial gate called the **Muga no Kyouchi** or State of Self Activation, consuming one tail of youki and allowing him the access to his youki reserves. Then he performs a single **Kage Bunshin**, equally splitting the remaining youki he has left between his clone and him, that's four tails each. In doing so, he decreased the control needed to achieve the last level by a half and separately activates the **Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami** or Pinnacle of Great Work and the **Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami** or Pinnacle or Great Wisdom. (It doesn't really matter which one the clone is performing, as long as Naruto opens the other one)

Once done he simply dispels the clone, transferring back the secondly activated mode from the clone to his true self, just like Classic Naruto "recharges" his sage mode with the clones from the Toad's land. And once that's done, there you have it, the **Ten'i Muho no Kiwami** or Pinnacle of Perfect Unity is achieved and the Kaze no Kami is unleashed :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 40 : Octopus and Kidnappings<strong>

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><p><strong>Iron Country – Meeting Room<strong>

"Why not damn it ?" Roared the Raikage from his seat.

"There is no evidence that your brother is in Amegakure, Raikage-dono. It is unwise to charge in an unknown territory, even with the combined forces of the Alliance's villages. We don't know for sure who is leading that Village nowadays, if it's not Hanzo then someone even stronger than the man who could take down the Konoha's combined sannin in their prime is in charge, and that's definitely troublesome news." Replied Tsunade, remembering the man who fought alone and won against her team during the war.

"What are your opinions on Amegakure, Tsuchikage-dono, Kazekage-dono ? Wind and Earth Countries share borders with the Land of the Rain, what can you tell us about your neighbor ?" Asked Naruto.

"It's the same as with you guys, their borders are completely closed. They won't allow any outsider to come into their lands so I'm afraid we don't have any other information about them." Replied Kurotsuchi. Gaara gave a similar answer, much to the Raikage's disappointment.

"With everything we have so far, it is my opinion that we should not act only based on suspicion. Do not misunderstand me Raikage-dono, I also have issues with Amegakure, my sensei was murdered there after all, but it is also true that he illegally crossed their borders." Naruto said.

"Everyone has to understand that the Alliance's and my goal is solely to bring peace to this world, we cannot and will not start a war without the good reasons, otherwise we aren't any better than the Akatsuki and this is not the message we want to pass on to the world." He added.

"What do you propose we do in that case, Naruto-kun ?" The Mizukage asked, not caring that everyone heard the suffix she added to the blond's name. Naruto had to once again calm the vixen in his mindscape down, as Natsuki was really not fond of Mei and her teasing on Naruto.

"Well, I suppose we could ..." Naruto could not finish his sentence as he suddenly stood up, mirrored by Gaara and Yugito. Everyone else in the room was surprised by their synchronized movements.

"What is it, Naruto ?" Tsunade asked with concern for her blond subordinate.

"Youki, lots of it, I can sense a gigantic source of youki, not far from our current position, jinchuriki sized youki and still rising. It must be your brother, Raikage-dono, and he's fighting someone. We should depart right away and investigate." Naruto said.

Yugito and Gaara also felt the youki explosion and nodded their agreement to Naruto's assessment.

"I'm going, that idiot brother of mine will only listen to me, plus I'm the fastest one here." The Raikage said as he stood up.

"I'll go too, I'm the one with the most experience against Akatsuki and you'll need me to locate the source of youki. Furthermore, I wouldn't be so sure on the speed matter, I'm pretty sure I could give you a run for your money in a speed contest, so I won't slow you down." Naruto replied with a grin, not phased by the Raikage and his claim to be the fastest.

Before Yugito could even move a muscle, A told her to stand down and that she wasn't coming. He left no place for any argument, telling his adoptive daughter that his decision was final.

Naruto turned his head towards Tsunade, he may have been placed at the top of the Alliance's forces but she was still the Hokage and someone he truly respected. He wasn't about to disrespect her in front of everyone like that.

Tsunade really wanted to prevent him from leaving as well, just like A stopped Yugito from joining them but she knew that Naruto was different. Trusting his judgment, she simply nodded her head and with a heavy sigh let the Namikaze Clan head follow the Raikage.

The two men immediately left after that, with the Raikage following behind Naruto. The young jonin simply followed the trail of youki as they moved at high speed towards the source. A had to admit that Naruto was very fast and didn't show any sign of being tired, even after his previous battles.

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><p><strong>With Killer Bee - Earlier<strong>

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><p>The Hachibi jinchuriki was visiting a friend of his, coincidentally inside the borders of Iron country where the Kage meeting was being held. They were discussing various topics, seating inside a forest, covered in snow as the rest of Iron country at this time of the year.<p>

The friend he was visiting was a enka music shinobi named Sabu. Sabu was a short, middle aged man. He wore a cream-colored robe adorned with a purple belt and two purple fuzzy balls hanging in the front. He also wore a purple garment underneath the robe and has a mesh shirt under his robe as well. He had dark brown hair which is done in a traditional Japanese manner, but with a punch perm bun on top of his head. He wields a huge axe and has a giant raccoon following him everywhere by the name of Ponta.

Bee was taking tips on how to develop his enka style when they were interrupted by the arrival of two visitors, wearing black robes with red clouds …

"It's you again, Fish-Man. I guess the little present I left you wasn't good enough for you and your friends." Bee said as he felt Kisame and Itachi.

"Don't worry, Octopus, we will thoroughly verify the body we're taking in this time." Replied Kisame with his usual smirk while Itachi remained silent.

Before they could trash talk any further, the giant raccoon charged towards the Akatsuki pair. Sabu was too slow to stop his partner as Kisame unsheathed his sword and countered the charging beast with a swing. Ponta was easily overpowered by Kisame's strength and the poor raccoon was now on the floor, unconscious.

Sabu was about to charge in to avenge his partner when Itachi suddenly activated his **Sharingan**, quickly catching the enka master in a mid-level genjutsu. Bee immediately ran towards his fellow enka comrade but Kisame stood in his way, he could only watch from afar as Itachi slowly walked towards Sabu and knocked him out with a chop at the neck.

"Now that the interference is gone, shall we start ?" Kisame asked, as he slowly unwrapped the bandages covering his sword.

"_I can't fight the both of them here, well I'm their target so they will follow after me. If I go ballistic on them with Hachibi, Sabu and Ponta will get caught in the destruction."_ Thought Killer Bee as he decided to run in the opposite direction, trying to put some distance with Sabu before the fight starts.

Itachi and Kisame showed no interest in the enka singer or the giant raccoon and immediately chased after Bee. The jinchuriki managed to get pretty far from his original position, in fact he could have run for a lot longer but he suddenly decided to stop and turned back to face his enemies.

"Are you ready to come with us ? We will not put you through unneeded pain if you follow us without resisting." Itachi said in his usual emotionless voice.

Instead of answering, Bee took out the seven swords he had and took a strange stance. B held his seven blades in between the joints of his arms, left armpit and both elbows, right leg, stomach, the right side of his neck, and the last one in his mouth.

Seeing Kisame itching to take a bite at the jinchuriki in a sword fight, Itachi decided to interfere.

"We don't have the time to lose around here, Kisame. The Kage Meeting is being held not far from here, we can't risk exposing ourselves for too long. We'll both attack him at the same time, you take the front, I'll capitalize on any opening he leaves." Announced the Uchiha prodigy, getting a nod from his partner.

Kisame lost no time and charged at Bee with his **Samehada** drawn, very confident about his kenjutsu skills since he was once a member of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri. Far from being impressed by Kisame's fame, Bee remained calm and waited for the Akatsuki swordsman to come.

Kisame's swings were more powerful but Bee was unpredictable with his seven swords, even Itachi had troubles to follow him and predict his attacks. The Uchiha found no openings so far in Bee's stance.

After another high speed kenjutsu exchange, Bee was finally able to take the advantage and Kisame took a deep cut on his left shoulder before Bee kicked him away. The jinchuriki was surprised though, he expected his katana to go right through his opponent's body but Kisame somehow managed to soften the blow. Bee theorized that the enemy had a way to absorb his chakra during their fight since his swords were charged with lightning chakra.

While Bee was thinking about his previous fight, Itachi with his **Sharingan** activated managed to get in front of the jinchuriki who forgot about him for only a spit second and launched an attack.

"**Magen : Kasegui no Jutsu !"** Called Itachi as he looked into Bee's eyes.

The jinchuriki found himself in the illusion world created by the **Sharingan** user, tormented with the sensation of having spikes driven through his limbs, taking away his body's freedom.

In the real world, Bee dropped his swords and lost his kenjutsu stance. Seeing this Itachi ran towards him and he was about to knock him down when Bee suddenly moved at the last moment before Itachi's attack.

"**Lariat !"** Yelled Bee as he suddenly shifted from his previous position to attack Itachi with his right arm, encased in youki.

With Bee's speed and his own momentum, Itachi took the attack almost straight on. It was only years of training and fighting that allowed the Uchiha to not take a critical hit, he managed to slightly move at he last moment in order to not take a mortal wound from the Bee's counter.

"H-How were you able to move, I'm sure I caught you in my genjutsu …" Asked Itachi.

"I'm a host with a perfect control over my jinchuriki powers, therefore I'm immune to genjutsu, now die !" Roared the Raikage's younger brother as he took a sword from the ground and slammed it down towards his injured opponent.

Before Bee could drive his sword through Itachi's heart, he was kicked out of the way by Kisame. The former Kiri nin was bleeding from his shoulder, he had taken off his coat and was now topless. He took a look at his partner and knew he wouldn't be able to flee if he had to carry the now useless Uchiha with him. His only choice now was to fight and defeat the jinchuriki.

His decision made, Kisame went after Bee and launched a jutsu.

"**Suiton : Dai Bakusui Shoha !"** Yelled Kisame as he expelled a massive amount of water from his own mouth. The water took the shape of a giant bubble, trapping Bee and Kisame inside it.

"Time to get serious, the stronger my opponent, the stronger I become." Said Kisame before he somehow fused with his sword, taking on the new appearance of a hybrid form between a human and a shark.

Bee watched the scene from his position inside the water prison, with his youki cloak still activated from the moment he countered Itachi's attempt to attack him with genjutsu.

"_His transformation and the sword's powers, he intends to fight me in this water prison. He most likely has the ability to breath underwater, I won't last long if I stay inside."_ He thought as he started to gather more youki from his bijuu until his cloak was composed of all the eight tails.

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><p><strong>Present Time<strong>

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><p>Seeing the explosion of demonic chakra, Kisame immediately rushed to Bee's position and started to attack him. The jinchuriki tried to escape the water bubble only to find out that it was following its caster's movements, consequently as long as Kisame could follow him, he would never be able to get out of the prison.<p>

This time, the **Kirigakure no Kaijin** completely dominated the fight, he had the advantage of fighting under water and every wound he suffered was instantly healed by absorbing more of the chakra from the Hachibi. Soon Bee had to dispel the youki cloak as his reserves were now critically low. He was also close to his physical limit after holding his breath during the whole fight inside the Suiton prison.

Seeing his opponent's transformation fading away, Kisame undid his water prison jutsu. Bee was now laying on the floor, out of chakra or stamina and was starting to lose consciousness.

"So close …" Said the jinchuriki as a smirking Kisame was slowly walking to him.

The Kiri missing nin was about to take Bee's body when he saw the smile on the face of the jinchuriki, his eyes widen as he finally understood Bee's last sentence …

"**Lariat !"** Yelled a new voice as a lightning covered arm suddenly appeared in front of Kisame's throat.

A split second after that, a bright white flash illuminated the area.

"**Futon : Shin'Zou Hakai !"** Called another voice as Kisame felt two arms pressed behind his back.

Naruto used his new taijutsu technique to hold Kisame's body while destroying his internal organs from the inside and A used Naruto's "block" to chop off the Akatsuki member's head with his Raiton charged Lariat.

"So close indeed ..." Were Kisame's last words as he lost his head and felt his body explode from within.

Not caring for their victim, the Raikage immediately went to check on his brother. He was relieved to see that the jinchuriki was just unconscious.

Naruto took Kisame's head and sealed it away as he did for Hidan's and Kakuzu's heads.

"I'll take this for my increasing collection if you don't mind, Raikage-dono." Said the leaf jonin.

A only chuckled at the light joke and took his brother's body over his shoulder. They left shortly after that, in the direction where they came from towards the Samurai's Fortress, not caring for Kisame's body or his sword.

They traveled for a short time when the Raikage suddenly stopped. Turning his head towards the ground, Naruto saw a strange looking man on top of a giant bear or rat creature.

"Raikage-sama ! Thank god you found Bee, I was starting to fear those two had defeated him, when the youki slowly disappeared a while ago." Said the man as Naruto was still trying to find out from what kind the creature was.

"Sabu ! I should have guess that idiot would have come to see you ..." Mused A with a scowl on his face.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean those _**two**_ ?" Asked Naruto as he finally snapped out of his thoughts.

"Yes, the fish-like one, and the Uchiha ..." Replied Sabu, however, before he could end his sentence, Naruto was already gone.

As the blond came back at the place where he killed Kisame not too long ago, he cursed as he immediately saw that the body disappeared, along with the sword. Furthermore, after following the footsteps that were left on the snowy ground he also found out that a second body, profusely bleeding, had also been dragged away not too long ago.

"_What the hell ?"_ Thought the blond as he tried to understand what just happened.

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><p><strong>Rice Country Borders<strong>

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><p>A group of shadows was tree jumping within the borders of Ta no Kuni.<p>

"Hurry up, Suigetsu. Why the hell did you even bring that huge ass sword with us anyway ?" Asked an unknown feminine voice.

"Do you want me to carry the body for you, Sasuke-kun ?" Asked another female voice.

"Don't you dare, he's mine, no one is to lay a finger on him !" Roared a familiar voice, as Uchiha Sasuke and some of his subordinates came into light.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Tweaked Bee's fight a bit, a mix between his encounter with **Taka** and his fight against Kisame.

Oto is back in the game and they got some nice bargaining chips too now.

I was really tempted to end the chapter with a cruel cliffhanger, making you guys guess who took Itachi's body away but decided against it :)

You can still guess who is currently traveling in the group ;)

Well, some of you may think that the window was too short for Sasuke and his group to steal the bodies and then run back home but nobody really knows where Iron Country is. In my opinion, if the five great villages had to find a true neutral ground to hold their meeting the closest place to every village would be inside Fire Country. So I decided to locate it a little bit higher to the north near Rice Country where Oto is located.

Anyway next issue will deal with the aftermath of all this and finally cover a part of Naruto's prophecy. Read the next chapter to find out how :)

As usual, please Read and Review.

Alright, with this chapter I'll go over the 500 Favorites and Alerts for sure, I hope to reach that limit in the review number too, thanks everyone :)


	41. Preparation and Engagement

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Okay got mixed reactions in the reviews about Kisame's and Itachi's fights during the previous chapter, I guess that was to be expected. Still, let's try to answer the questions and comments.<p>

The reviewer '**noshadowone'** asked how Taka could "sneak up" on Naruto and the Raikage, stealing the **Samehada** just under their nose, making it a "terrible plot device". I'm not sure I understand why it would be such an unrealistic feat. I'm pretty sure I wrote that Naruto and A took off after they eliminated Kisame, not caring for the sword or the body. There was nothing preventing anyone from taking away the unclaimed "spoils of war" after that. Anyway would have replied to you by private message but you disabled it in you profile.

Some of you felt that Kisame and Itachi went down a little bit too easily, well that's true. For Itachi, it was his conviction that no one could counter his Sharingan genjutsu that doomed him in his confrontation with Bee, that and we all know how powerful an unexpected **Lariat** is. For Kisame, well I will concede that he should have felt them coming. Even then, with the **Hiraishin** and the **Raiton no Yoroi**, Naruto and A are now the fastest men in the Elemental Nations, I think they could pull this off.

Finally, there were concerns about the lack of interactions between Natsuki and Naruto. Those are totally justified, I'll admit that Romance wasn't really well developed in this story. I'm working on it and the "unsealing" scene should be coming soon. I have an original concept planned for it and I hope it will please those who have eagerly been waiting for it.

The other questions should be answered by reading this chapter :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 41 : Preparation and Engagement<strong>

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><p><strong>Turtle Island<strong>

Naruto woke up in an unfamiliar bed, looking around he didn't recognize the room he was sleeping in neither. Getting out of bed, he finally remembered where he was and also why. He took a fast shower and then changed into his ninja gears before leaving the room. He went downstairs and saw that his two new comrades were already awake and waiting for him in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Uzumaki-san." Came a first voice when he entered the kitchen.

"Good morning to you too, and please, call me Naruto." Replied Naruto in his usual cheerful tone.

"Sure, as long as you call me Yugito." The woman he was talking to replied, getting a nod from Naruto.

"How are you feeling Bee-san ? Are your injuries healed yet ?" Naruto asked the other person in the room.

"I'm feeling great kid, how about you, are you ready to start you jinchuriki training ?" Killer Bee asked Naruto.

"Actually ..." Naruto was thinking about his next words and how he managed to find himself in this situation.

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><p><em><span>Flashback – Kage Meeting<span>_

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><p><em>After Naruto joined them, the Raikage and a still unconscious Bee decided to go back to the Samurai's Fortress, where the other Kage were waiting for them.<em>

_When they arrived, Naruto told everyone about the fight and how they managed to save Killer Bee from Kisame and Itachi. He also revealed that someone somehow stole the bodies and equipment of the missing nins before he came back to check on Itachi._

"_What now ? We decided to not attack Amegakure without solid evidence, what can we do other than waiting for them to attack one of us first ?" Asked Kurotsuchi._

"_Prepare ourselves to war, share our resources and information to get everything we can about Akatsuki." Gaara said._

"_Let's meet again in a month, this will give us the time to make the appropriate arrangements. I'm sure we all need to report to our respective councils, about the recent developments." Mei added._

_Before Mifune could announce the end of the meeting Naruto suddenly stood up._

"_Raikage-dono, I'd like to ask a favor." Said the young leaf jonin, getting a nod from the A._

"_Now that we managed to find Bee-san, I would like to request for him to teach me how to control my powers as a jinchuriki, I'm well aware that he has a perfect mastery over his own powers." Naruto said._

"_Very well, but the place for such a training is a secret base. Even in Kumogakure, only a few of us know of its existence and I would like to keep it that way. You are allowed to come with us, but I cannot reveal to everyone the location where you will be training." A replied._

_Before Tsunade could protest, not liking the fact that she wouldn't know where Naruto would be, the newly appointed Alliance's Leader spoke again._

"_I accept your conditions, thank you very much." He said to the Raikage, then he went to talk with Tsunade._

"_Are you sure about this, Naruto ?" Asked the Hokage with a worried look on her face._

"_Don't worry Ba-chan, I feel that I can trust them. This is for Ero-sennin and his dream, together we will make his dream a reality." Replied the Uzumaki to his last relative alive._

_Tsunade could not deny him when he started to mention the old pervert, it was a sensible subject for both of them so she reluctantly agreed to let him go with the Kumo nins._

_The Suna, Kiri and Iwa delegations were already gone, before Tsunade with her two bodyguards could leave Naruto stopped them before going through hand signs._

"_**Ninpo : Kuchiyose no Jutsu !"** He yelled. A very small dragon appeared out of the smoke and Naruto handed it to Tsunade._

"_Here take him with you, this is Ryubin a messenger class dragon. You can contact me through him in case of emergency." Naruto said to his Kage._

_Tsunade took the small summon creature and then left to get back to Konoha with her escort._

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><p><em><span>End of Flashback<span>_

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><p>They arrived on the island yesterday, Yugito was tagging along under A's orders to keep Naruto and Bee from killing each other. It also helped that she too, had a perfect control of her jinchuriki powers and was one of the few who could handle Bee when he went overboard. It was already late when they disembarked from the boat that led them there so they decided to sleep early.<p>

"Well, I can already control all the nine tails of youki from my bijuu." Naruto admitted.

"You WHAT ?" Yugito yelled back to him while Bee had a scowl on his face.

Naruto then told them about his story with Natsuki and that they were mates.

"You're planning to release it, aren't you ?" Said the Hachibi jinchuriki, once again shocking Yugito.

Naruto's eyes widened at Killer Bee's words, surprised that he had already guessed his true intentions.

"Yes I do, and let me remind you that it's not "it" but "her", Kyuubi's real name is Natsuki." Naruto said.

There was a long break, Yugito and Killer Bee were obviously interrogating their respective bijuu about Naruto's claims. After a few minutes more minutes of silence, Yugito was the first to speak.

"Very well, Nibi or should I say Matatabi has confirmed that what you said about Natsuki is true." She said.

"Gyuki says hello as well, however, how do you even plan to free her without losing your own life in the process ?" Killer Bee asked.

"When a bijuu is sealed into a human being, the jinchuriki will receive a certain amount of youki with the distribution system that goes along with it. Our body will adapt to it and that's why if someone tries to forcefully remove the youki from our body, we will die in the process. It would be the same as completely removing all the chakra from a human being, a human cannot function without chakra and we jinchuriki can't live without youki anymore." Naruto started.

"That's where you guys come in. I've created a new seal that will contain the surge of youki once I destroy my **Shiki Fuujin**. The seal will be powered by your youki, you guys have perfect control over your respective youki so with your combined powers you should be able to contain Natsuki's powers." Naruto finished.

"But what will happen to Natsuki if you keep the youki inside your body ?" Yugito asked.

"Natsuki will get back a physical form as soon as I destroy the **Shiki Fuujin**, but she will no longer be a bijuu after that. I guess that you could say she will become someone closer to us jinchuriki, not human but not an immortal anymore either, I'm not sure what level of youki she will have after that. She is fully aware of these facts and wanted to proceed." Naruto replied.

"Would you be able to do the same for me too ?" Yugito asked again, even surprising Bee.

"I'm not sure, we don't have the same jinchuriki seal but I could look into it if you want." Naruto told her.

They then spent most of the day to prepare the unsealing ritual, Naruto had to draw an extremely intricate looking seal on the ground while Yugito and Bee prepared the room and rest their bodies for the event.

"I guess we'll stop for today, the seal is ready but I'm a little exhausted, both physically and mentally. We'll proceed with the unsealing tomorrow if that's fine with you guys ?" Naruto said as he stood up from his position on the ground.

Yugito and Bee both nodded to Naruto and they all made their way back towards the cabin they were using as a temporary house on that island. The dinner went on quite silently, even Bee toned down his rapping habits and they all went to sleep early.

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><p><strong>Naruto's Mindscape<strong>

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><p>The young blond appeared in his mindscape that night right after he went to sleep. He quickly made his way towards the house he designed for Natsuki, only to find her waiting for him near the entrance. She immediately ran to him and brought him in a bone crushing hug.<p>

"Hi Na-chan, it's finally time." Naruto happily said as he spotted the vixen. No matter how tired or sad he was, meeting with her always brought joy to his heart.

"**Naru-kun, are you sure you want to proceed ? I'm really worried, not for me but for you. I don't want to lose you at the cost of my freedom."** Natsuki replied, tears already forming in her beautiful red eyes.

"You will have to trust me on this, I've work hard and trained myself for that moment for the better part of my life. Ever since I fell in love with you, this has been a dream of mine to be able to hold you in the real world. I want this, more than becoming a Hokage, even more than bringing peace to this world. You will have to believe in me as I believe in us." Naruto replied, while gently kissing the tears away from the corners of Natsuki's eyes.

"**You've really become skilled with the words Naru-kun, I believe in you, in us."** Natsuki said with a smile.

"Are you sure you don't mind losing your immortality, once we proceed you will become a mortal just like me and you could die." Naruto asked.

"**I would rather live and die knowing that I could hold and love you in the real world than live forever as a ghost inside a seal."** Natsuki reassuringly told him.

"Then there's only one thing left for me to do." Naruto said before gently pulled back from the hug.

The blond slowly got down on one knee and took Natsuki's left in his own.

"I know we already consider ourselves as each other's mates but I would like to take this moment to formally tell you what's been in my mind and in my heart for quite some time now." Started Naruto as Natsuki nodded back to him.

"You've always been here for me, I don't know where or what I would have become if you weren't. I love you with all my heart, no matter what happens once we reach the real world I want to remain by my side. Natsuki, would you do me the honor of marrying me ?" Naruto asked her.

"**Hai, I would love to become your wife Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto."** Natsuki replied with tears of joy in her eyes this time.

"I'm sorry I don't have a ring for you, we're in my mindscape and I didn't want to create a ring that wouldn't be the one you would wear in the real world when you get out. I can do this though." Naruto said as he started to gather chakra through his finger and brought it to Natsuki left hand. A seal soon appeared on her finger, on the spot where an engagement ring would be placed. It had a circular form, appeared to be just like a ring if someone was looking at it from afar.

"This is a modified version of the **Hiraishin**, I have the other part of the seal on my finger too. With it, we can instantly transport ourselves to each other, no matter the distance. This seal will remain even after the unsealing from tomorrow, we may not be connected by the **Shiki Fuujin** anymore but we will still be able to instantly reach each other with it." Naruto told her.

"**This is even better than any ring in the world, I love you so much and I can't wait to hold you in my arms."** Natsuki said.

They hugged each other again after that and spent the night making out and talking about their future together. Before he left, she spoke to him again.

"**You know you're still gonna have to buy me that ring when the unsealing is done, right ?"** Natsuki said with a smile that still said she was serious to her future husband.

"Of course, my love." Naruto said with a chuckle, as he left his mindscape for the last time.

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><p><strong>Amegakure<strong>

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><p>Tobi or Madara was not happy about the latest developments, according to Zetsu, they had lost not only Hidan and Kakuzu but also Itachi and Kisame. Furthermore, Iwagakure managed to reestablish diplomatic relations with the other major villages, thanks to their newly appointed Tsuchikage and the participation of one Uzumaki Naruto as the mediator.<p>

The loss of the immortal combo was surprising, he had seen the both of them live through some nasty things and he did not think possible for either of them to die. However, losing Kisame and worse than that, losing Itachi was a major set back in his plans. He had also planned to use Iwa as an advanced base for his army once the chaos and aftermath of the Kage Meeting would be revealed but that was quite impossible now, he knew that Amegakure and its forces were not enough.

Zetsu had told him all about both battles, how the Kyuubi jinchuriki single-handedly eliminated both Hidan and Kakuzu. He silently listened to the report about Naruto's newest powers and cursed at his inability to understand them. Then he learned how Itachi was surprised by Killer Bee's immunity to genjutsu and finally how Kisame lost against the combined powers of both the Yondaime Raikage and once again Uzumaki Naruto.

The true Akatsuki mastermind thought about the situation and there was one thing that came to him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, he is the common thread. Nagato and his plan to use him was good for a time but now, we created a monster and I don't even know the extend of his true powers." Tobi said.

"I've lost track of him, the Nibi and Hachibi once they got within the borders of Lightning Country. I still have a clone trailing the Kazekage though, he is back in Sunagakure and hasn't moved from there ever since." Zetsu reported.

"Transmit the following orders to Nagato, I will assign him the mission to take on the Ichibi while I go secure another alliance for us." Tobi said, Zetsu nodded before slowly disappearing into the ground.

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>Konoha was in a state of emergency, it wasn't the highest level of alert but close enough. Martial law was the highest one, only to be instated during active war times.<p>

Tsunade had started procedures and drills to organize the village in case of an attack by the enemy, her policy now was to hope for the best but plan for the worst. Missions outside the village were now reserved to the higher level ninja while missions outside Fire Country were simply refused. Reserved troops were being slowly drafted in to re actualize their level of skill and preparation.

The Hokage had to attend to meetings with the council almost everyday now, she was rather surprised to see the Namikaze Clan's seat occupied by Yuhi Kurenai, the young jonin kunoichi having been nominated by Naruto, the clan's head, as his proxy during his absence. Kurenai did a good job at representing her former student in the council, proud, independent and never backing down before the civilian council.

Tsunade let her mind drift to Naruto, wondering if it was a good idea to let him leave with the Kumo delegation after the Kage Meeting. She did not have much time to think about it, since she was suddenly interrupted by Shizune entering her office.

"Tsunade-sama, I know that sounds like _déjà vu_ but you need to take a look at this, _again._" Said her disciple as she was handed a bingo book. Already knowing which section to open she directly went to Naruto's profile page. It read :

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><p><strong>Name : <strong>Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto

**Nickname : **Konoha's Kaze No Kami

Kiri's Eighth Blade

Leader of the Shinobi Alliance

**Age : **16

**Rank : **SS

**Status : **Jonin

**Attributes: **Kenjutsu(S), Ninjutsu(S), Genjutsu(S), Taijutsu(S) and Fuinjutsu(S)

**Affinities : **Wind

**Bloodline : **Unknown

**Description : **Has a very high affinity to the Wind element

Sage of the mythical Dragon summoning contract

Casts unbreakable genjutsu

Member of Kirigakure's Eight Swordsmen

Son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina

**Defeated** A-Rank Kiri Nukenin Momochi Zabuza the Kirigakure No Kijin

**Defeated** Sabaku no Gaara the Suna's Ichibi Jinchuriki

**Defeated** S-Rank Konoha Nukenin Uchiha Itachi the Sharingan Prodigy

**Defeated** S-Rank Iwa Nukenin Deidara the Mad Bomber

**Defeated** S-Rank Kiri Yondaime Mizukage Yagura the Sanbi's Jinchuriki

**Defeated** S-Rank Iwa Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki the Fence Sitter

**Defeated** S-Rank Taki Nukenin Kakuzu the Immortal Heart Stealer

**Defeated** S-Rank Yuga Nukenin Hidan the Immortal Jashinist

**Defeated** S-Rank Kiri Nukenin Hoshigaki Kisame the Kirigakure No Kaijin

**Action : **Flee on sight

**Bounty :** 100,000,000 Ryo in Oto and Ame Dead or Alive

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><p>"So the whole world knows about the survival of the Yondaime Hokage's son now ..." Tsunade said.<p>

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><p><strong>AN : **What do yo think ?

The unsealing is finally coming, now most story have Naruto turning into a Hanyou when he frees a female Kyuubi from his seal, tried to go the other way and have her turn "human". Formally cemented it with a "human" type engagement too :)

I would like to know what the readers want about Yugito and Bee and their bijuu, we know their names thanks to the recent manga chapters but since I'm doing the unsealing for Naruto, should I do it for them too, having Nibi and Hachibi assume genders and all ?

Tobi/Madara is on the move, what is his next move on the Elemental Nations chess board ? Is Gaara in trouble now that he's the only obvious remaining jinchuriki on the Akatsuki's radar ?

What's up with Oto and how will the world / Konoha react to Naruto's newly revealed lineage ?

New rank in the bingo book, since the Hiraishin and Namikaze things were revealed and well, took down a bunch of S-Ranks powerhouses too, that's one hell of a resume he got there.

Read the next issue to know :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	42. Freedom and Imprisonment

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>As expected, according to the reviews many of you had been waiting for what happened in the previous chapter but I really don't think that it would have been wise to have it happen earlier than that. Naruto needed the time to master all nine tails worth of Natsuki's youki before attempting to free her, and just looking back at the cannon manga confirms my belief on that since he just mastered those powers there as well.<p>

Concerning the matter of Yugito's and Bee's bijuu, I have made my decision based on what you guys wrote in the reviews and well, just read the chapter and you'll find out how it turns out. This was a plot point I forgot when I prepared the overall plot for the story, it doesn't really have a great impact but needed to be addressed nevertheless.

Got no complains so far on Naruto's new status as a SS-Ranked shinobi, so I guess everyone's fine with it. I mean, he got the skills, he proved his worth time and again and now everyone also knows he's got Hokage's blood running through his veins. We'll see more of the world's reaction to this in the upcoming chapters, from his allies to his enemies.

Set a new personal record, with 7,5 K hits on Saturday when I released chapter 41, plus I'm getting really close to the 300,000 total hits and just went above 500 reviews, I would like to thank once again my readers and reviewers for that :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 42 : Freedom and Imprisonment<strong>

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><p><strong>Rice Country – Otogakure, One Week Ago<strong>

Uchiha Sasuke and his group made it back to their base in Ta no Kuni, with one really interesting addition. Taka, that was the name this group was assuming when they had to perform missions outside the country, just finished its first S-Class mission.

This special unit was composed of the Uchiha scion, Sasuke. New leader of the Sound Village after the assassination of the former leader, Orochimaru, at his hands. He was the one holding the body of an unconscious Uchiha Itachi over his shoulder, his elder brother, at their arrival.

Then there was his former teammate from his genin days in Konoha as members of Team seven, Haruno Sakura. Apprenticed to the Godaime Hokage Senju Tsunade, she was a brilliant medic kunoichi as her master. She had been in love with the Uchiha heir ever since their academy days back in the leaf and chose to deflect from her home to follow him and his ambitions.

The third member was Hozuki Suigetsu, he was one of those Orochimaru had captured and then experimented on. Suigetsu was the one who took up the **Samehada** from Kisame's corpse and said sword was now strapped to his back. He followed Sasuke but with his own ambition, gathering all the swords from the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri, originally wishing to become one himself.

The last member was another kunoichi, who went by the name of Karin. She seemed to be constantly arguing with Suigetsu while trying to appeal to Sasuke at the same time, competing with Sakura to win the raven haired shinobi's heart. She had been a loyal servant to Orochimaru but the young Uchiha managed to win her heart ever since he saved her from a life and death situation during the second round of their chunin exams.

The group had been welcomed by Otogakure's second in command, Yakushi Kabuto. Right hand to both Orochimaru when he was alive and now to Sasuke, the medic shinobi was also in charge of the continuation of the diverse experimentation programs that the snake sennin had put in motion before his demise.

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><p><strong>Otogakure - Holding Cells, Present Time<strong>

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><p>Sasuke opened the door to the detention area of his base, this was in fact the place where Orochimaru used to hold prisoner the people he had captured and planned to experiment on. Compared to the time when Orochimaru was in charge, the prison had lost most of its population under Sasuke's reign.<p>

With the fall of the Shodaime Otokage, many prisoners were "freed" and "offered" a place in the new army that would serve the Nidaime in his future ambitions. There was no real choice in the matter, as all those who refused to join the ranks were simply put in the "research" section of the village, under the responsibility of Kabuto to become the new "volunteers" in his experiments.

"How is he today ?" Sasuke asked as he entered into an isolation room.

"His body is slowly healing, the damages he sustained were catastrophic. A good thing that Sakura was there to heal the most extensive injuries he had, the techniques she learned from Tsunade are quite impressive." Kabuto reported.

"What's the status of your truth serum, is it fully operational yet ?" Sasuke said.

"Yes, Uchiha-sama. It has been tested on subjects of various conditions, you need to know that those with the high mental defenses were the one I had the most troubles with. We can expect your bro ..." He was interrupted in the middle of his report when Sasuke snapped.

"Don't you dare finishing that sentence, the prisoner has no relation to me and it would be wise for you to remember that !" Sasuke yelled.

"Of course, Otokage-sama. As I was saying, the patient will most likely resist the effect of the drugs, it will take time to break all his mental blocks." Reported the scientist.

"What are the drug's effects on the subject's bodies and minds afterward ?" Sasuke asked.

"It really depends on their resistance, the longer a patient resists and the more permanent damage to the brain are to be expected." Kabuto replied.

The door to the room suddenly opened as Sakura busted in, out of breath.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sakura ?" Sasuke demanded.

"Y-You have a guest in your office, H-He ..." Sakura tried to speak but was obviously troubled by that mysterious guest.

"Well ? What is so special about him ?" The Uchiha said.

"He's got the **Sharingan**, Sasuke-kun. I saw it with my own eyes, he was wearing a mask but I saw one of his eyes and it was the **Sharingan**, I'm positive." The kunoichi replied as she finally composed herself. Sasuke's eyes widened at her reply, a million things going through his twisted mind at the moment.

"_There's no other Uchiha left besides Itachi and I, could that be Kakashi ? No, Sakura would have recognized him, so who ..."_ He thought as he left the room to meet this mysterious guest.

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><p><strong>Turtle Island<strong>

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><p>Naruto slowly woke up after his conversation with Natsuki, still not familiarized with the room he was sleeping in. He went through his morning rituals and then made his way downstairs towards the kitchen. As the day before, he was the last one up, since Bee was already sitting on the couch trying to come up with new rhymes for his songs and Yugito was eating her breakfast.<p>

"Hello there, did you guys sleep well ?" The Leaf jonin asked his two companions.

"How can you be so enthusiastic this early in the morning, Naruto ?" Yugito asked, visibly not fully awake herself yet.

"What's with the good mood, Mr Nine ? Did something good happened to you last night ?" Bee asked from his position on the couch.

Naruto was not even aware that he sounded so cheerful, well, at least more than his usual self. He decided to enlighten his two jinchuriki fellow members with the last developments in his personal life.

"I guess I should tell you guys, since I more or less kidnapped you both as I gave Raikage Jiji false reasons to bring you here with me. Well I'm engaged, I visited my mindscape for the last time yesterday and Natsuki agreed to marry me once we set her free from the seal. It is my pleasure to invite you both at the wedding and it would mean a lot for me if you could make it, though I still don't know when or where that will be." Naruto replied, a huge smile on his face as he told them.

"That's great news, Naruto. Of course I'll come, even if Brother forbids me to, I'll find a way to come !" Bee said as he and Naruto bumped first in celebration.

"I'll do my best too, though I won't go as far as Uncle Bee." Yugito added with a smile.

"I know you didn't have much time to think about it, but did you guys decided if you want to free your partners too ? I had a lot more time to think about it but we won't get another occasion any time soon to have three jinchuriki gathered at one place, it would be wise to proceed if one of you wanted to do it as well." Naruto asked them, with a serious tone in his voice this time.

Bee was the first to react, he did think a lot about it ever since Naruto revealed his plan to them.

"I carefully thought about it, Naruto. I don't have the same type of relation with Gyuki than you and Natsuki share. As far as I can remember, he and I have always been the best of friends and that's why everyone see me as the perfect jinchuriki. He is a part of myself and I'm a part of him too, we both came to the conclusion that we don't want to be separated." Bee replied.

Naruto understood Bee's reasoning and chose to respect his decision. Yugito was still silent through all this, she had also taken the time to think about it but somehow came to a different conclusion.

"I also took the time to think about it. In Kumo, everyone knew that I was the jinchuriki for the two tailed Cat, I would lie if I told you that it didn't affect the relations or potential relations I could have with the rest of the population. While we are on friendly terms today with Matatabi, that hasn't always been the case and I don't even know if it has a gender. If you can find a way to bypass my seal, I would like to try the unsealing." Yugito said.

Naruto and Bee also understood her reasons and Bee always knew that even if she was his brother's beloved daughter, she had always suffered from isolation and loneliness while she grew up. He was glad that she could maybe find a way to reach happiness for once in her life too.

"I understand both your decisions and I'll do my best to help you after this, Yugito." Naruto said, getting thankful nods from both Bee and Yugito.

Naruto ate his breakfast and then the trio made its way to the room they had prepared for the unsealing. It was a huge cave and Bee had told Naruto that the place was designed to contain bijuu if their host failed to control their power.

They walked to the place where Naruto drew the seal on the ground that would lock Natsuki's youki in Naruto's body while her soul and body were set free from the destruction of the **Shiki Fuujin**.

"Okay, I need you two to seat in the spots I designed for you guys." Naruto said as he took them to their position. Yugito was seated behind the center of the seal where Naruto would be, while Bee was in front of him.

"Next phase now, please listen carefully because this is really important. The moment I apply the Key to my seal I need you guys to channel as much youki as you can through the symbols I drew on the floor in front of each of you." Naruto told them while showing them the place where they needed to focus their attention.

"What happens if the output of youki isn't high enough at the time the **Shiki Fuujin** is destroyed, Naruto ?" Yugito asked, in a mix of curiosity and anxiety.

"Well, not much except that I'll die and then my fiancée won't be too happy with you guys once she's freed and I'm unavailable to attend the wedding." Naruto replied with a nervous smile, trying to ease the tensed atmosphere.

"No pressure then ..." Yugito said, regretting that she asked and trying to not think about an angered Kyuubi after them because they killed her mate. Bee simply chuckled from his position and focused his mind on the seals in front of him.

Naruto then took off his vest, showing them the various tattoos he had on his upper body. The moment he channeled chakra, the **Shiki Fuujin** appeared on his stomach. Another thing caught the two spectator's eyes, a new seal appeared on the underside of his right arm, from the palm of his hand to his elbow.

"That's the Key, now please get ready." Naruto told them, getting nods from his two associates.

"Whatever happens today, I love you Natsuki." Naruto said to his vixen through his mind.

"**I love you too, Naruto."** She answered him, and both closed their eyes in anticipation.

"N**ow !**" Yelled Naruto as he suddenly opened his eyes that turned from cerulean blue to crimson red and slammed the Key on his stomach over the **Shiki Fuujin**. In perfect synchronization, both Bee and Yugito channeled as much youki as they possibly could through the strange runic symbols Naruto had painted on the floor and then, exactly nine seconds after the beginning of the procedure, everything disappeared in a bright flash of white light.

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Kazekage Office<strong>

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><p>A week after getting back from the Kage Meeting, things had greatly changed for the Hidden Village of the Sand. Security had already been upgraded after Akatsuki's first attempt to kidnap the Kazekage, but now, the village was on high alert. Civilians had orders to limit their activities outside their home to the strict minimum, the Academy now sent students back home earlier than usual and every patrol inside or outside the walls of the village had been doubled.<p>

Gaara was fully aware that because of him, Suna had once again become a priority target for Akatsuki. He also knew that with Naruto and the two other Kumo jinchuriki going into hiding for a secret training session, it would further increase the pressure on his own village. He would have gladly come with his best friend but he had responsibilities that Naruto didn't, a village to run.

The council meeting he had in the morning had been the same as every other one he had during the week, reports of the patrolling missions, as nothing suspicious had been reported so far. Gaara had also assigned Kankuro to oversee the village's external defenses while Temari was in charge of organizing the internal activities as well as the evacuation drills and logistics.

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><p><strong>Desert – Outskirts of Sunagakure<strong>

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><p>Three shadows were slowly advancing towards Sunagakure, all wearing the Akatsuki robes.<p>

"How nostalgic, it hasn't been that long since the last time I've been here with Sasori, Un." Deidara said, riding on top of his bird made of clay.

"..." Was the reply of his first traveling companion.

"..." Was the reply from his second partner in this mission.

Neither Nagato nor Konan replied to his comment, making the Iwa missing nin scowl.

"You know, even that stuck up puppeteer had more conversation than the both of you combined. Damn, I'm bored out of my mind ! You don't mind if I go first, right ?" Deidara said, still getting no reaction from his comrades.

Seeing no signs protestations, the blond suddenly took off in the air with his bird and accelerated towards their destination on his own with great speed.

"Even if he was getting really annoying, was it really wise to let him go first alone like that ? Zetsu told us that their defense had been greatly improved since the last time you sent him there." Konan asked her partner.

"He will either succeed in taking down the Ichibi jinchuriki or serve as a good distraction while we proceed to complete the mission ourselves within the chaos he will most certainly create." Replied Nagato without a hint of emotion upon using his subordinate in such a way.

Konan chose to not comment on her friend's plan. The couple continued their walk towards Suna in silence after that.

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Eastern Walls<strong>

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><p>A squad of three chunin and one jonin was in the middle of their mission to patrol over the eastern section of the village when something suddenly caught the attention of the squad leader. The rest of the team stopped when they saw that their leader wasn't following after them. They looked back to see that his sight was set towards the sky, over the walls.<p>

"What is it, Taicho ?" Asked one of the team member, as they joined up with their leader.

"I'm not sure, I think I see something there, up in the sky." The jonin replied without looking at them.

Before any of the chunin could react, the entire area was shaken by a powerful explosion.

A few seconds later, Deidara was seen flying over the dust cloud generated by the explosion. He was smirking until he saw the result of his preemptive strike as the cloud dissipated.

Above the group of four Suna shinobi, stood a dome of sand, a small tendril of sand was connecting the strange structure to something else. Deidara followed it to the source and he was surprised when he found it. Also floating mid air was none other than the Kazekage.

"How did you detect my art this time, Un ?" Deidara asked.

"I knew you were coming even before you left Amegakure, now we'll see how different the fight goes when Suna is expecting you." Replied Gaara in a calm yet determined voice.

"Pein won't be happy about this, Un." Deidara said as he leaped back to create some distance between the Kazekage and him.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

We've seen what happened in Otogakure with the return of Sasuke and his prisoner. The Otokage has plans for his brother but what does Tobi want with him ?

The unsealing is done, Bee chose to remain a jinchuriki while Yugito chose to free her bijuu. Let's see how it goes from there.

Nagato took Konan and Deidara with him to Suna, will they succeed in taking out the last jinchuriki they have a lead on ? How did Gaara know that they were coming for him ?

Read the next issues to find out :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	43. Desert Storm

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Here we go again, seems you readers enjoyed the previous chapter even though the cliffhanger frustrated some if not all of you. Well if it's about Naruto and the unsealing process, come on do you really expect it to fail at this point ?<p>

Now I know each of us got favorites character and don't want for them to die, but well the story is nearing its end and let's just say that not everyone can survive. It's not helping the plot to advance nor is it really realistic, so yes, some of your favorites character may die in the upcoming chapters.

The anonymous reviewer '**figglewiggle24**' asked if releasing Natsuki would diminish Naruto's powers, since most of his newest or strongest moves are indeed powered by youki. The answer is no, since the unsealing procedure used a containment seal to prevent the youki from leaving his body, only her body and soul were freed. In the previous chapter, I explained that through the years, Naruto had developed his own youki circulatory system and as a consequence, removing his youki would kill him at this point. That's the reason why the unsealing procedure is like that but more about this will be revealed later, especially the status of Natsuki's youki reserves.

Sorry about the delay in releasing this chapter but the website kept bugging for me yesterday and I couldn't access my account. I don't think I was alone in that situation since an acquaintance of mine also had the same problem.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 43 : Desert Storm<strong>

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Eastern Walls<strong>

The Kazekage Gaara stoically observed Deidara's retreating form towards the desert as more of his men came to assist him after hearing the huge explosion. Among the reinforcements were Temari and Kankuro, escorted by their own respective squads.

"Temari, proceed with the evacuation plans as scheduled and send emergency scrolls to all our allies telling them we're under attack and request immediate assistance." Gaara said to his sister.

"Hai Kazekage-sama, it shall be done !" She said back with determination in her voice. The kunoichi was of course worried for her brothers but she had to keep her emotions to herself as many were looking up to her at this moment.

"Kankuro, mobilize all our men. Send everyone to their positions, including the shinobi put in the reserve list." The Kazekage gave the orders to his brother this time.

"Very well, I'll see to it. What about you though, what will you do ?" The puppeteer master asked his younger brother and leader. Temari also wanted to know, even though she already suspected that he would do something reckless again.

"He is but one man, I shall stall him long enough for our forces to regroup and our citizens to be properly evacuated. Remember that they always travel at least in pairs, something is wrong here and we must prepare ourselves." Gaara replied and then surprised both his siblings as well as the guards around them when they saw a smile on his face as he spoke to them.

"You all have your orders, now go ! Don't worry, I'm not that easy to kill and besides, I don't plan to lose against the same opponent twice." Said the Kazekage as he slowly flew higher in the sky and left the vicinity of his village without looking back.

"You heard him, let's go everyone !" Temari yelled as they all left to perform their duties.

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><p><strong>Otogakure – Otokage's Office<strong>

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><p>Sasuke used <strong>Shunshin<strong> to appear just outside of his office, where the mysterious guest who supposedly possessed a **Sharingan** was waiting for him. The Nidaime Otokage tried to calm himself as he made a move to get inside his office.

Upon entering the room, he saw a man in the Akatsuki's garbs, with an orange mask covering his entire face except for a small hole over his right eye. Sasuke immediately activated his **Sharingan** to get a better view of this man's right eye.

With his doujutsu activated, he instantly saw what scared Sakura to such an extend, the man in front of him truly had a **Sharingan** in his right eye. Trying to retain his composure, the young leader then started the conversation.

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you right away, Akatsuki ?" Sasuke asked with authority.

"I didn't come here to fight, even if you wanted to kill me, right now you aren't strong enough." The man in front of him calmly replied.

"Who are you, and why do you have a **Sharingan** in your right eye ? I should be the only one left with Itachi and Kakashi to have it and you're neither of them." Replied Sasuke, rapidly losing his patience.

"Who I am is of no consequence to you right now, I came here to extend an invitation to you though, as I did with your brother many years ago." Tobi said, his voice still void of any emotion.

"Why the hell would I follow the same path Itachi took, the only goal I have is to destroy everything that he had or did in his life." Sasuke said with anger in his voice, preparing himself to attack the stranger.

"I know that you retrieved his body from after his fight with the Hachibi jinchuriki, he already played his part in my plans so I don't need him anymore. Get the truth from him, you will see that the world isn't as simple as it sounds. Then come and find me when the light leaves your world and everything turns into endless darkness ..." Tobi mysteriously said as he tossed Sasuke a scroll with the location of one of his secret base.

The masked Akatsuki's member then activated a space/time ninjutsu under Sasuke's astonished eyes as he disappeared into thin air in front of the Nidaime Otokage.

"Very well, I will get the truth from Itachi." Sasuke said to no one in particular. The meeting made no difference to him as he had always planned to discover the truth behind Itachi's actions, how his loving brother turned against their clan and killed everyone that fateful night. The question that killed him was why he was chosen as the sole survivor of the massacre, why him and not his mother or father.

Determined now more than ever to get the answers to his questions Sasuke made his way back to the confinement area.

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Just Outside the Walls<strong>

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><p>Gaara lost no time as he immediately started his attack against Deidara, going through hand signs as huge amount of chakra charged sand was gathering around his body.<p>

"**Rendan Suna Shigure !"** He called as the sand he was collecting from both his gourd and the desert below him took the form of shuriken. He then started to bombard Deidara with them, firing the sand projectiles with deadly speed and accuracy.

"_He can float in the air like me so my C2 land mines strategy won't work against him, I wouldn't even be able to evade his attacks anyway if I took my Dragon out now, so let's go with the C1 for the time being."_ Deidara thought of a battle plan, as he was skillfully evading Gaara's attacks.

Seeing that it wasn't effective, the Kazekage stopped his sand bullet barrage attack, not wanting to aimlessly waste chakra. However, instead of running away, Deidara suddenly turned back and instantly charged back towards the village. Gaara cursed at himself as he understood his opponent's plan, the missing nin was going to take the village hostage in order to limit his target's movements and the scale of his attacks. Gaara went in pursuit mode, trying to catch up with Deidara but the blond was a lot faster than him in the air.

"_Good, he's falling right into my trap. Now let's see how you deal with this ..."_ Thought Deidara as he started to absorb clay from the palm of his hands and then molded a small amount of it into very small spider like creatures.

Gaara was still following behind Deidara when something caught his attention, his sand shield automatically reacted to block a foreign object that was flying at him from Deidara's direction. He did not have the time to wonder what he was since the object detonated as soon as it reached the shield. Gaara's eyes widened when he saw that many more of those were now in front of him, blocking his path to Deidara. The red head immediately stopped his advance and started new hand signs.

"**Futon : Mugen Sajin Daitoppa !"** Yelled Gaara. He first inhaled air and then blew it out along with a chakra coated sand particles. This powerful squall covered a large angle in a stream sufficient to knock the spiders like creature down and damage them with the sand before they could reach him. This caused them all to explode, however Deidara had already managed to reach the village while Gaara was dealing with his C1 attack.

When the Kazekage finally arrived back in Suna, Deidara had already started to spread chaos all over. The missing nin had changed his mount from the small frail looking bird to a strong large dragon creature.

"How nice of you to join us Kazekage-dono, Un." Deidara said with a smirk as his dragon spat a giant missile towards the ground. Gaara was forced to helplessly watch as the clay bullet hit the roof of Suna's Academy with deadly speed before exploding and obliterating the entire building along with other smaller ones that were close to it.

"How do you like my C2 creation, **Bakuretsu Hiryu**, let's see how you fight now that you have to protect your precious village against my attacks at the same time." Deidara said before taking more altitude with his dragon.

Just then, before Gaara moved again, Temari and Kankuro appeared via **Shunshin** behind him.

"Evacuation is almost complete, only a few residents have yet to reach the refuge. The emergency scrolls have been sent and we used our fastest traveling birds." Temari reported.

"Every men with military training has been armed and sent to the walls of the village. I know you wanted to avoid fighting them inside the village but it has been evacuated by now, we may lose some buildings but it's a lot better than losing you." Kankuro said.

"Very well, both of you go join our men and make sure no one interfere with this fight. He's got very powerful wide range attacks and from now on I won't hold back on mine neither." Gaara ordered his siblings.

Temari and Kankuro could feel the desperation in Gaara's voice. They chose to not put any more pressure on him than he already supported, using **Shunshin** again to leave him fighting against the Akatsuki member on his own as he ordered them to.

Deidara continued to bombard the village with his C2 dragon, while Gaara was forced to stay close to the ground in order to counter or deflect those attacks, both aimed at him or the village. The missiles were getting stronger and faster with each attempt he made. The one he was about to launch was gigantic and Gaara was certain that it would obliterate a good quarter of the village if he let it touch the ground.

"Let's see how you like this one Un, Art is a Blast !" Yelled Deidara as his dragon fired the deadly clay missile, aiming for the center of the village.

Gaara knew that he could not afford to let this attack succeed. He used a Sand **Shunshin** to appear right above the estimated point of impact and went through a new series of hand signs.

"**Saiko Zettai Bogyo : Shukaku no Tate !"** Called Gaara as he summoned a giant statue of Shukaku made of highly chakra charged sand and placed it above himself in order to protect the village.

When Deidara's attack reached Gaara's shield, the explosion rocked the entire village, the buildings around the Kazekage were destroyed by the blast. The Ultimate defensive jutsu used by Gaara was almost completely destroyed and he was himself laying on the floor, profusely bleeding from the cuts he received from the explosion. The jinchuriki also bled from his hears, most likely from being so close to such a detonation.

"It seems you survived my art, Un. No matter, it's time to finish this." Deidara said before flying towards the downed form of the Kazekage with his C2 Dragon ready to take Gaara's body away in its claws.

The dragon flew down and the moment its claws reach out for Gaara's body, the Kazekage's body cracked and dissolved into sand. Deidara's eyes widened as he understood he was the one who fell into Gaara's trap, the missing nin then heard his enemy calling a new jutsu.

"**Saiko Zettai Kogeki : Shukaku no Hoko !"** Gaara said as he emerged from the broken form of his previous sand shield with a massive spear made of the same hardened sand and pierced both Deidara and his Dragon's bodies with it from behind.

Deidara tried with his remaining force to move but couldn't free himself from the spear that was going through his stomach. Seeing that Gaara had a good hold on him, he gave up on trying to run away and turned his head towards his opponent.

"This isn't over Kazekage-dono, I may have lost today but I'll leave you with a memory of my art, a memory you or your village won't be able to forget any time soon." Deidara said before going through hand signs.

Not understanding nor liking the idea of an artistic final gift from Iwagakure's mad bomber, Gaara decided to act too.

"**C0 : Kyukyoku Geijutsu !"** Deidara said as his body started to disappear.

"_Seeing the pattern of his previous attacks, this must be his ultimate and last desperate move to take me with him in death. This must be some kind of very powerful explosive jutsu as the rest, I can't risk it exploding here but what can I do ?"_ Gaara thought as he saw his enemy continue his technique.

"**Sabaku : Sotaizo !"** Gaara said as he trapped the rapidly evolving form of Deidara in a pyramidal sand structure with highly concentrated sand as its base materials. The Kazekage then made additional hand signs and called another jutsu.

"**Gokusa Maiso !"** He said as the ground under the pyramid loosened and swallowed it, sinking it two hundreds meters below the ground. Gaara then used his last reserves to fill the ground with his chakra in anticipation with Deidara's jutsu.

A few moments after that, everyone in the village could feel the force behind the explosion. To Gaara it was surreal, Sunagakure itself was shaking from Deidara's last jutsu. It was as if they were experiencing an earthquake, many buildings, roads and others structures collapsed under the strength of the vibrations.

When the area finally stopped shaking, Gaara saw his village in a state of total chaos. He could only shiver in fear, thinking what would have happened if he didn't use his jutsu to bury the threat. Fortunately, the only loss so far were materials, no casualties were signaled. Gaara sighed in relief, buildings could be reconstruct but human lives were priceless, that was a lesson he learned from his best and first friend Uzumaki Naruto. He closed his eyes as he thought about the blond Konoha jinchuriki and with the adrenaline slowly fading from his organism, he lost balance and fell to the ground.

"Good job, Gaara. You did it, you got him and protected us all." Temari said as she caught him before he could touch the ground.

"Yea, now rest and leave the rest to us. You used most of your chakra in during the fight, you deserved a good rest after all this." Kankuro added.

Gaara was about to comply and doze off but he was interrupted before he could do so as a new explosion caught their attention.

The main gate was gone and in its stead now stood two new shadowed figures, unfortunately for Sunagakure they were also wearing the Akatsuki's cloaks.

"It seems my subordinate took good care of you, Kazekage-dono." Pein said as he and Konan slowly appeared from the spot where the gates previously stood.

"Subordinate ? Are you some kind of leader in the Akatsuki organization ?" Kankuro asked the cloaked figure of Pein.

"There's no need for you to know that, since you are about to die anyway." Konan replied as she started to channel chakra through her body and dematerialized into slips of papers in front of their astonished audience.

Pein started slammed his hands on the ground as he called a new jutsu, **"Ninpo : Kuchiyose no Jutsu !"** he said as five small clouds of smoke appeared in front of him.

When the smoke disappeared, in front of them stood five new additional Akatsuki's members. They all had orange hair and strange markings or piercings all over their faces. The weirdest thing is that they also all had a strange doujutsu, purple eyes with circular black rings …

Gaara managed so stand up with the help of his sister Temari but as soon as he saw the eyes of the newcomers, he knew that Sunagakure would not be able to stop this enemy on its own.

"_He told us that he needed time to train his powers but I can't fight on my own anymore. I was the only one to have a chance to resist those S-Ranked monsters but I can't even stand up alone any longer. Forgive me my friend, but I have no other choice now. I hope you had enough time, otherwise we're all doomed ..."_ Gaara thought as he slowly put a hand in his jacket pocket and took out something that caught Pein's attention.

The God of Amegakure instantly launched one of his men against Gaara as he saw what the Kazekage was about to do but it was too late already. The red head jinchuriki managed to throw the object he had in his right hand in the sky before he was tackled to the ground by Temari in order to avoid Pein's attack on him.

Just as Temari and Gaara touched the ground, a white light suddenly blinded everyone around and Gaara slowly closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

This concludes the first part of this new Suna arc, Gaara won against Deidara but he's already all worn out and ready to drop at any moment. How will they resist against Pein/Nagato and Konan now that they finally joined the fray ? Well I'm sure you already now ...

Sasuke got his first meeting with Tobi / Madara, the "patriarch" showed him the "path" and extended an invitation to the younger Uchiha with mysterious words. How will Sasuke react ? Will he be able to extract the "truth" from Itachi ?

Read the next issue to find out about these questions :)

As usual please read and review.


	44. Opposite Paths

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Before starting, a little mention to '<strong>Zarosian Chaos<strong>', for correctly guessing what Gaara did in his last moments before losing consciousness. I don't think it was that hard to tell, not that I wanted to make it too obvious either.

Another question that was asked is whether Natsuki's unsealing will prevent Akatsuki's bijuu sealing plan from working. I've got opinions from several reviewers who already asked me about it so I guess I'll try to give you my take on this, even if the Nine Tails chakra is separated from the soul, extraction and absorption is still possible if they manage to capture both Naruto and Natsuki. Well they would need to know that Naruto freed her in the first place, something he won't reveal to just anyone.

Finally, I know some of you were expecting a nice Naruto x Natsuki moment but they couldn't exactly have it while Gaara and Suna were getting their ass kicked, wouldn't reflect nicely on our favorite Alliance's Leader now, would it ?

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 44 : Opposite Paths<strong>

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Main Entrance<strong>

Everyone just froze as the flashing light erupted in the middle of the battlefield, invaders and defenders alike. Only three of them actually knew what had just happened in front of them, as the object Gaara threw in the air fell back down and planted itself in the sand recovering the ground.

When they took a look at it, all everyone could see was a strange looking kunai with three blades instead of the regular ones that only got one. The more experienced shinobi now understood the situation, even though they still couldn't grasp every details.

"So you came after all, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. Konoha's Kaze no Kami, Eighth Swordsman of Kiri and recently nominated as the Leader of the Shinobi Alliance." Pein said from his position, turning his head back to look at the top of the place where the gates used to stand.

"Naruto ? Where is he ? I don't see him." Temari said while frantically looking around, hoping to find the Leaf jonin.

"Why would he be here ? Wasn't he supposed to be hiding and secretly training his jinchuriki powers ?" Kankuro discretely asked his sister who nodded back to him.

"It seems you already know a lot about me, Akatsuki members. However, I believe this is the first time we meet." Said a familiar voice that left no doubt for the Sabaku siblings as to who just spoke.

"Naruto ! Is that really you ?" Kankuro shouted from his position besides the fallen form of Gaara.

"In the flesh, it is good to see you again, make-up dude." Replied a smirking blonde jinchuriki as many more in the audience snickered at the jab.

"_Thank god, with him around we have a solid chance to stay alive. He's the one who took down most of them up until now."_ Were Temari's thoughts as she looked at the famed Kaze no Kami.

"Temari, get you brother to a safer place and proceed with whatever Gaara asked you to do before he lost consciousness. Kankuro, you will have to deal with the blue haired female member while I take care of the others. Have your men fall back to a safe distance, no offense but they would get in the way." Naruto said, assuming his Leader role.

The siblings blinked, unable to immediately react to the orders from someone younger than them that wasn't Gaara. They quickly regained their composure and then nodded to each other as they went to follow Naruto's and Gaara's orders.

Naruto then started to analyze the Akatsuki members he had in front of him. There was the blue haired woman, nothing really special about her except her beautiful face and also the fact that she didn't seem to show any kind of emotion.

Naruto then set his gaze upon the rest of the invaders and was surprised when he noted that they all shared common features. With the exception of the first woman, every other members of their group had orange hair and those strange piercings on their faces. Suddenly his mind stopped processing whatever it was analyzing as he saw another similarity between all those members, their eyes. They all had a particular eye pattern that couldn't be mistaken, **Rinnegan** the legendary doujutsu from the Sage of the Six Paths.

Naruto just stood there as he remembered his discussion with Fukasaku the Elder Toad Sage. He thought about the story of Jiraya's final fight and how the Toad described the pervert's opponents, a mysterious group of shinobi wielding the same legendary doujutsu.

"You !" Yelled Naruto staring at the group of orange haired shinobi, as his blood started to boil.

"You're the ones who killed Jiraya-sensei, you will pay for this. I swear that none of you will leave this place alive ..." Growled the blond before taking off his jacket and throwing it aside. Many of the Suna kunoichi around had a blush on their faces as they saw Naruto's naked upper body, most of them would have called out to him if it wasn't for the extremely tensed situation at hand.

"_No time or energy to waste, if those guys are the one who took down Ero-sennin then I'll have to go all out from the beginning." _Naruto analyzed in his mind, before going through hand signs.

"**Futon : Muga no Kyouchi !"** Naruto said, activating the opening door of his bloodline as wind chakra started to flow throughout his entire body and his tattoo started to fade.

"**Ninpo : Kage Bunshin no Jutsu !"** Naruto did no hand seal as one of his clone appeared right next to him with half of his remaining chakra reserves, evenly distributed among the two of them.

"**Futon : Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami !"** Called the true Naruto, enabling the ultimate body enhancement form of his bloodline.

"**Futon : Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami !"** Announced the clone, activating the ultimate mind control ability from his bloodline.

"**Futon : Ten'i Muho no Kiwami !"** Naruto yelled, as his clone dispelled and the wind violently picked up to form a small tornado around his body, entirely shielding him from his opponent's eyes. As the wind finally died down, Naruto slowly emerged in his final ultimate form, the Pinnacle of perfect unity.

"Such power, truly a shame that we couldn't understand each other while studying under the same sensei ..." Pein said in his monotonous voice, enabling the expected surprised reaction from his blond target as Naruto didn't seem to know about their common connection through Jiraya.

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><p><strong>Otogakure – Detention Area<strong>

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><p>It had been hours since Kabuto started his work on Itachi, miserably failing up until now as the Uchiha had yet to reveal any information to him that could prove to be useful for his master, the Nidaime Otokage and brother to the subject.<p>

From a purely scientific analysis, the Konoha missing nin should have lost the will to resist a long time ago. The drug that had been injected right into his bloodstream should have made sure of that and yet he remained perfectly silent the entire time.

Sasuke had only visited once, when he came to authorize the beginning of the procedure after his mysterious meeting with the masked guest that, according to Sakura, also had a **Sharingan**. The new leader of the Sound village had then decided to put this "experiment" at the top of the list in terms of priority. Kabuto knew that failure was not an option in this case, and the medic was ordered to report in as soon as he was able to break Itachi's mental defenses.

"Any change in his response to your treatment yet ?" Asked Sasuke as he entered the room.

"None so far but with the dose of drug he's been injected with, it shouldn't be much longer now." Kabuto replied as he started to take notes while monitoring Itachi's brain activities.

"So his mind has already been considerably weakened even as we speak ?" Sasuke said, more like a statement than a real question.

"Yes, I believe that with your unique way of interrogating people, you should be able to force him to reveal to you whatever you are looking for." Kabuto said, obviously speaking about Sasuke's mastery over his **Sharingan**.

"Very well, let's see what he hides in that mind of his ..." Sasuke said as he made his way in front of his brother. The younger Uchiha took a seat in front of his elder brother and then channeled chakra through his eyes to reveal his fully mature **Sharingan**.

"Now Itachi, tell me about the night when the massacre took place ..." Sasuke asked, as Kabuto went to check on the machine that was recording Itachi's vitals.

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Main Entrance<strong>

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><p>During the showdown between Naruto and Pein, no one from the Suna forces or even Konan dared to move an inch. They were completely silent and listening to the conversation between the young Leader of the entire Shinobi Alliance and the apparent Leader of the Akatsuki organization.<p>

"What did you just say ? I think I heard wrong when you mentioned Jiraya-**sensei**." Naruto asked, insisting on the "sensei" word.

"I was once a student of Jiraya too, that makes us fellow students. You should be able to understand my actions, everything is for the sake of peace ..." Pein replied.

"Don't you dare twisting the words you must have heard from sensei into that stupid ideology of yours, he never wished for something like this to happen." Naruto said in anger.

"We had the same teacher, he told us both about his dream but we somehow reached different conclusions on the way to achieve that dream. Anyway, it seems the reports I had on you are accurate, it is useless to try to discuss with you ..." Pein started to say as he wordlessly ordered his men to attack.

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><p><strong>Naruto vs Asura Path<strong>

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><p>From the six shinobi, the one with a mechanical body was the first to engage Naruto in a fight. He had some kind of propulsion device that allowed him to move at great speed and could also detach parts of his body at will in order to attack. The blond easily evaded every attempts to reach him but found it equally hard to land a hit on his opponent. During the whole thing the other five just stood there, doing nothing except intently looking at them with their doujutsu activated.<p>

"_How the hell can he evade my hits, no one should be on par with me when I'm in this form. Does his eyes have prediction abilities like the **Sharingan** too ?"_ Naruto thought as his opponent once again blocked a hit that was aimed at him in a blind spot.

The wind then started to slowly pick up, projecting the sand that was covering the entire area in the air around them. As they resumed the fight, Naruto found it strangely easier to make his punch or kicks connect this time.

"_That's strange, is he already tired or did something change, his reaction time is a bit slower that earlier. The only difference with the previous encounter is this light sandstorm ..."_ Analyzed the blond. His eyes suddenly widened as he finally understood some of his opponent's abilities.

Slightly increasing the output of wind chakra coming out of his body, he managed to amplify the effects of the local sandstorm in order to hide their position from the rest of the Akatsuki member's group and then took out his katana before charging at his enemy again.

The result was immediate, he completely dominated the fight this time and with a swift swing of his blade, he managed to cut off the head of his first opponent.

"_I was right, they somehow had the ability to inform him of my movements with that doujutsu to cover for his blind spots. The probability for one person to possess the legendary **Rinnegan** is ridiculously low, so for the six of them to have it, is downright impossible. That means this is most likely some kind of puppetry jutsu and only one of them with those eyes is in control of the rest of them."_ Were the conclusions that Naruto just came to, after his first fight with Pein.

He was interrupted from his musings when two more **Rinnegan** wielders started to run at him.

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><p><strong>Naruto vs Animal  Preta Path**

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><p>The only female member of those strange <strong>Rinnegan<strong> puppets suddenly stopped at a safe distance from him and the other one that was following behind her stood just in front of her. She then went through hand signs Naruto immediately recognized as he started to perform the exact same sequence from his position.

"**Ninpo : Kuchiyose no Jutsu !"** They both yelled as they slammed their hands on the ground. From an external point of view, it would have seemed like Naruto had just used some kind of **Sharingan** ability to analyze, copy and then re-use a jutsu he just saw being performed in front of him. The truth is that he used that jutsu so many times in the past that being able to recognize those hand signs easily came to him. Not wanting to be overwhelmed by whatever his opponent was about to summon he simply took the initiative to call forth his own summon.

"Kankuro ! Clear the area on your men, this is about to get ugly." Naruto said to Kankuro as the puppet master and a good number of Suna shinobi had stayed close to them so far. Konan also took this opportunity to fall back behind the rest of their group that had yet to join the fight.

Pein still managed to surprise the blond as from the smoke generated by the **Kuchiyose** techniques came out not only one but three summons, a dog, a bull, and finally a rhinoceros. All were quite big, at least the size of Ryuoh or Gamabunta. The most interesting fact was that the summons also had the **Rinnegan** activated in their eyes.

Naruto had "only" summoned the Dragon King himself, Ryuoh. As he was still in a favorable position, he channeled more chakra to his palms and summoned more allies to even the odds and then next to Ryuoh appeared two more dragons. On his right was Hiryu, the Fire Dragon and Naruto's favorite summon. On the left stood another one that Naruto had never summoned before, it was a dragon covered in ice and the incredible differential in temperature between him and the surrounding air was so high that the creature's body was covered by steam.

"**What did you do this time, Naruto ?"** Ryuoh asked, almost annoyed at only being summoned in those extreme situations lately.

"**It's been a while, Naruto-sama. You seem to have grown a lot stronger since the last time we met."** Hiryu respectfully said.

"**Greetings, Naruto-sama. I am Hyorinmaru, an Ice Dragon, it is an honor to finally meet you."** Said the last one in an equally respectful tone.

"It's nice to see you all, I'm sorry this isn't a social call but I request your assistance. That one just summoned three boss size summons and I'd really appreciate a little bit of help out there." He said pointing towards the female **Rinnegan** member.

"**Oh, it's been ages since the last time I saw those eyes … Very well Naruto, we'll help you. The most effective way to win this is to take out the summoner, that should send those things back to their realms. That will be your mission while we deal with the summons."** Ryuoh said, getting an acceptance nod from Naruto.

The giant dog, bull and rhino summons immediately charged towards Naruto who had yet to move from his position. Seeing the incoming attack, the blond simply jumped on top of the Dragon King's head while Hiryu and Hyorinmaru slowly started to levitate from the ground to take position on each side of their King and summoner. When they were close enough, Naruto went through hand signs while the dragons started to inhale large quantities of air in their lungs.

"**Futon : Ryu Kokuou no Nakigoe !"** Yelled Naruto as Ryuoh expelled the air trapped in his lungs in a gigantic roar that, combined with Naruto's mastery over wind, turned into a giant Sound attack, targeting the advancing summoning creature's hearing systems.

The attack was extremely effective as the three charging summons from Pein lost their balance and tripped themselves to the ground.

Taking advantage of the situation, Hyorinmaru was the next in line to make a move. The Ice Dragon then blasted a huge torrent of frozen air in front of him towards the fallen forms of their enemy's pets, instantly trapping them in huge ice blocks right where they fell.

Hiryu then took position to finish the job as he released a powerful jet of red flames towards the immobilized creatures, literally vaporizing them out of existence.

The Animal Path used another summoning jutsu and this time a bird came out of the smoke.

"**Naruto, what the hell are you waiting for ? Go stop that summoner or this will never end."** Ryuoh yelled at him.

Without hand signs or calling the jutsu, Naruto then launched the **Futon : Furyudan no Jutsu** against the enemy summoner but before the technique could reach its target the Preta Path appeared in front of it and somehow absorbed it, only using the palm of his hands.

"_What the … ? This one must have the ability to negate or absorb any ninjutsu. I have to get closer to them."_ Thought Naruto as he summoned a Hiraishin kunai and prepared his next move. He suddenly launched his kunai towards the two Rinnegan wielders, however the kunai was off target from a good meter to the left.

Pein wasn't stupid, he knew Naruto's true intentions and sent the Preta Path behind to cover for the Animal Path. Naruto indeed missed on purpose as he appeared in a white flash behind them, causing the Preta Path to smirk at correctly guessing his opponent's plan. He was about to raise his hands to deflect whatever Naruto planned to use against them when to his surprise, instead of using a jutsu Naruto caught the kunai he previously launched mid air and launched it again in the opposite direction.

The blond appeared right behind the Animal Path, so fast that even Pein with his doujutsu wasn't able to follow his movements. He then launched the **Futon : Furyudan no Jutsu** again, this time the wind dragon tore through the Animal Path at point blank, leaving no chance for an escape or external interference. Due to their close proximity, even the Preta Path was caught in the area of effect from the wind jutsu and lost both his right arm and leg.

"Three down, three to go ..." Said a smirking Naruto.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

First half of the Naruto / Pein fight, I know I didn't mention Natsuki at all in this chapter but well he didn't really have the time to chat with his allies and even then that's not something he'd be willing to share with just anyone, the Kyuubi being free is a serious issue :)

We also got a small update on Oto, Sasuke is about to discover the truth about Konoha and its dirty secrets. Some anger to be expected next time on that …

Introduced a "new" dragon summon, most of you should be able to tell where it comes from …

Anyway, as usual please read and review.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

**Futon : Ryu Kokuou no Nakigoe**, translates as the Dragon King's Roar. A combination between Naruto's sound attack, the **Futon : Shishi Kokuou no Nakigoe** (as seen in chapter 15) and Ryuoh being the one who actually roars while Naruto is redirecting the air vibrations towards his targets. Basically a big ass stun grenade.


	45. Passing Dreams

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Seems like everyone enjoyed the previous chapter and especially the appearance of the new ice dragon. I can see that there are lots of fans of Toshiro Hitsugaya from the Bleach manga following this story, he is also one of my favorite Gotei 13 captains.<p>

Some of you are eagerly waiting for more details about Natsuki's unsealing, it's not that I forgot about it but there's just a little twist that will be shortly explained. Anyway, no need to worry I wouldn't skip it.

With this chapter, the story will finally enter the "more than 150K words" category in the filters, not so bad for my first attempt ever at writing a fan fiction I might say. Thanks again for your continuous support and reviews, those are a great source of motivation for a first time author like me.

Finally, taking the time to properly thank the anonymous reviewer '**DViper'** for his review and all the praises he put in it to qualify this story. I was quite surprised when I read it, really gave me a boost in my confidence as an author.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 45 : Passing Dreams<strong>

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><p><strong>Otogakure – Detention Area<strong>

Uchiha Itachi's consciousness was slowly fading away. He woke up days ago but he wasn't sure when exactly, as the only thing he remembered was the fight with the Hachibi jinchuriki before everything went black.

He swore he would never become like the rest of his clan, arrogant and overconfident in their supposedly invincible eyes. However, during that last fight with Killer Bee he dropped his guard, thinking the **Sharingan** would do the work and that cost him dearly.

He found himself in a strange room he couldn't recognize, most likely reserved for medical use. His movement were restricted and his chakra had apparently been sealed as well. He lost the track of time as medics were tending to his wounds, only recognizing Kabuto and Sakura as he already met them in the past. From that he could deduce that he was currently in Otogakure, the most surprising thing was that Sasuke had yet to visit him.

Today Kabuto injected him with some kind of drug, Itachi could already feel his control sleeping away. When Orochimaru's former right hand started to question him about Akatsuki and their plans, he found it increasingly harder to resist. When he felt his mental strength finally vanishing, that was the precise moment his younger brother decided to grace them of his presence.

The last thing Itachi could picture, before his vision became clouded, was a pair of fully matured **Sharingan** staring at him. The same eyes that made him one of the most feared shinobi in the entire Elemental Nations but also quite ironically the same eyes that caused his doom.

That day Sasuke learned everything his brother knew, first was the truth behind the massacre of the Uchiha clan. Itachi was a spy for the village against his own clan, directly reporting to the Sandaime Hokage and his advisers. Apparently, the clan planned to rebel and start a civil war but before they could act, Itachi was commissioned with the task to eliminate them all.

He then learned about Akatsuki and the secret identity of the man behind the orange mask. He was stunned to learn that his ancestor, Uchiha Madara was still alive. Itachi then spoke about Madara's plans and why he needed to gather the nine bijuu. Sasuke was especially interested in that **Sharingan** ability that the founder of his clan wanted to use.

Everything went well but Sasuke was still struggling with one thing, to discover why Itachi decided to spare his life on that fateful night. The elder Uchiha was pretty resilient in answering that question for unknown reasons, that made Sasuke's blood boil.

"Increase the dosage, Kabuto !" The Otokage ordered his second in command.

"Uchiha-sama, he has already received more than his body should be able to handle. Any more than that and he is at risk of overdose and then death." Kabuto pleaded, trying to convince his leader to be more patient.

"I don't give a damn, you could replace his whole blood with the drug for all I care ! Now, Do it." Replied Sasuke, completely ignoring the warnings from Kabuto.

"As you wish, Otokage-sama. You will have to wait a few minutes for the drug to kick in though." Kabuto answered before he pushed more drug into Itachi's bloodstream.

Sasuke was getting more and more unstable as he had to wait for the drug to take effect on Itachi. After five more minutes, Kabuto gave him a nod to signal for the interrogation to continue.

"Tell me now ! Why did you leave me alive ? Whose order was it ? Who wanted me alive for whatever plans they had, the Hokage ? The Elders ? Madara ? Answer me damn it !" Roared Sasuke as he looked into Itachi's eyes with his **Sharingan** activated.

Itachi slowly opened his mouth, still trying to resist the effects of the drug flowing through his system on his mind.

"I … They wanted the whole clan to disappear, men, women and children alike. The Sandaime Hokage wanted to only kill those who were found guilty of treason but the elders wouldn't agree. I … I struck a deal with them, your life for my silence. Only you would survive, my brother you were supposed to rebuild the clan, freed from its corruption. I couldn't let them kill you … My only hope … My only weakness ..." Finally replied Itachi.

As the former Konoha ANBU captain was revealing his last and dearest secret, his eyes were losing their focus. Sasuke couldn't hold his tears back as he finally knew why Itachi left him alive, he was supposed to be his redemption. All this time, all Itachi ever did was to protect and guide him.

Sasuke was about to speak with his brother again when he finally realized his condition.

"Itachi, wake up ! Don't leave me alone !" Yelled the younger Uchiha.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke ..." Were the last words Itachi pronounced before his eyes became empty, he was not there anymore.

Kabuto watched in fascination, at the exact moment Itachi's mind was gone and his eyes lost their light, Sasuke's **Sharingan** began to change its shape, morphing into the form of the **Mangekyo Sharingan**.

"_So that's how the famed **Sharingan** evolves to its next level, guilt over the death of a loved one. Well it seems Itachi passed the torch to his younger brother, not sure if Sasuke actually sees the bigger picture or if he will just let anger consume him once more ..."_ Thought Kabuto in a morbid fascination.

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – With Naruto<strong>

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><p>Naruto stood in front of the three remaining <strong>Rinnegan<strong> wielders, after having already defeated three of them. The bird creature, called forth by the one who used the summoning jutsu, had dispelled the moment its summoner had been struck by Naruto's wind technique. They had gone deeper in the desert as Naruto didn't want to destroy Sunagakure with his high scale techniques.

Pein and Konan were highly impressed at the display of skill from their target, so far only Jiraya had managed to go that far against Pein and his six Paths.

"_He's truly a student of Jiraya-sensei. Nagato, I sincerely hope you have a solid plan ..."_ Thought Konan as she continued to watch the battle from a safe distance.

"_He easily took down the **Animal**, **Preta** and **Asura** Paths. I need to distract him and get the **Naraka** in position to restore the ones who can still be revived. I'd rather keep the powers from Deva secret for the time being, if I can."_ Pein analyzed the situation and his different options.

Before he could think of a proper course of action though, Naruto had already thrown a **Rasenshuriken** towards their group in anticipation. The deadly chakra sphere was already upon them and without the **Preta** Path he couldn't deflect it anymore.

With not enough time to evade, Pein had to sacrifice the **Human** Path. It stayed behind in order to push the **Naraka** Path away from the deadly looking jutsu that Naruto had just launched. Naruto's upgraded version of the **Rasengan** hit the **Human** Path dead on, completely destroying its body in the blast, as it expanded on impact.

The **Deva** Path was the only one far enough to jump away on his own. However, he didn't see Naruto's three dragon summons coming at him in anticipation. Ryuoh was in front of him while Hiryu and Hyorinmaru were flanking him, all preparing to release their attacks as they inhaled large quantities of air in their lungs. With no other choice, he decided to use his powers.

"**Shinra Tensei !"** Yelled the **Deva** Path as he extended his arms to the side of his body.

Naruto stood there dumbfounded, as he saw his dragons being violently pushed back by an invisible force. He could only imagine the strength behind such an attack if it had enough power to blow away a creature with Ryuoh's size. After flying backwards, Ryuoh, Hiryu and Hyorinmaru landed very loudly as they fell, hard on the ground.

"_What the hell just happened ? It looked like my Black Hole jutsu, with the exception that he didn't need to compress the air around him, I would have felt it if he did."_ Thought Naruto as he was forced to dispel the dragons and let them go back to their realm, in order to heal from their injuries.

While Naruto was focused on the **Deva** Path, the **Naraka** made its way to the only body that could still be salvaged, the **Preta** one. The others body were not sustainable anymore, having received too much or critical damages. Unknown to Naruto, it started to regenerate the **Preta** Path.

"I'll concede that you have nice moves too, well it's just two to go now." Naruto said, trying to not show how impressed he truly was.

"**Bansho Ten'in !"** Suddenly called the Deva Path as he extended one arm towards Naruto.

The blond immediately felt his body being pulled towards his enemy by an invisible force. He finally understood what attack was used against Ryuoh and the others previously, gravitation force. Naruto tried to manipulate the wind to stop his movement but it was in vain as the gravitation seemed to have more power.

Naruto was getting dangerously close to **Deva** when he somehow managed to launch a **Hiraishin** kunai and instantly moved away from there, appearing right behind his opponent. He was about to repeat his tactics from the fight against the **Animal** Path and launch another **Furyudan**, however he was stopped at the last moment by the **Preta** Path absorbing his jutsu.

The Namikaze couldn't understand why the **Preta** was "alive" or at least operational as he was sure he destroyed it earlier. Looking back at the position where its body should still be laying, he saw the **Naraka** there with a strange statue.

"_This one must have the power to somehow revive them, damn I was so focused on the one with the gravitation powers that I completely forgot about this one."_Naruto thought.

The three remaining Paths moved into a new formation, with **Deva** in the center, **Preta** in the front and **Naraka** in the back. Naruto quickly analyzed and understood the sudden movement, the "Shield" in the front, the "Healer" at the back and the "Sword" in the center, it actually made sense.

"_For my next move to work, I'll need to at least get the one with regenerative powers so taking down one of the other two will be secondary. I'll also have to be careful with the one manipulating gravitation, the other two don't seem to have offensive powers."_ Were Naruto's thoughts as he prepared his next moves.

With a battle plan ready, Naruto summoned a Hiraishin kunai and threw it towards his enemies before going through hand signs at a really high speed.

"**Futon : Hiraishin Tatsumaki no Jutsu !"** He yelled, as the Hiraishin kunai suddenly multiplied itself to form fifty copies. The wind then violently picked up and formed a small tornado around the three remaining Paths, absorbing the fifty Hiraishin kunai in its body.

When the kunai were evenly dispersed within the tornado, Naruto did a single hand sign and disappeared in a white flash. Soon, Pein could see flashing lights traveling through the tornado as Naruto was jumping from one kunai to the next without stopping for even one second.

The **Deva** Path tried to use the **Shinra Tensei** and then the **Bansho Ten'in** but both failed, as Naruto simply moved to another kunai when he was being pulled or pushed by Pein's techniques. When the **Preta** tried to absorb and dispel the technique, he got severely cut on both hands as not only wind but also kunai were traveling at high speed inside the tornado.

Naruto could see during Pein's attempts against him that the Akatsuki's Leader had to wait for approximately five seconds between each jutsu before he could launch the next one. The blond then timed his next attack and waited for an opening. Naruto didn't have to wait long as Pein decided to try again with the **Shinra Tensei**.

The moment Pein's attack failed, the five seconds opening came and Naruto did not waste it. A **Rasenshuriken** was thrown into the enemy group and Preta immediately went to intercept it, however upon impact he realized too late that it was in fact a **Henge** of the true Naruto flying at him.

The blond tackled the Preta to the ground and instantly applied both his palm into his opponent's rib cage.

"**Futon : Shin'Zou Hakai !"** Yelled Naruto as he made the **Preta** implode from within.

He immediately stood up and unsheathed his katana and pointed its blade towards **Deva** who still couldn't use any jutsu.

"**Futon : Doku Kyuzou !"** He said as he thrust his katana towards his target.

With no hesitation, the **Naraka** Path pushed **Deva** away and took the hit in his stead. Naruto's sword went right through his heart and he could already feel the wind chakra tearing his body from the inside.

The five seconds window finally ended at that precise moment and **Deva** pushed as much chakra as he could into his **Shinra Tensei**. Naruto was harshly blown away and the cyclone also dispelled as he lost his concentration after being hit at point blank by the condensed **Shinra Tensei**.

"_Nagato … He sacrificed the **Naraka** even if it had a more strategic role than the **Deva**, because he didn't want to lose Yahiko."_ Thought Konan as she looked at the battle.

Both Naruto and his last opponent were getting tired. Even with his ultimate mode activated, minimizing the efforts he had to do in order to perform his techniques, the blond was starting to feel the after effects of the continuous use of the Hiraishin.

Pein only had the **Deva** left and he also used too many techniques. Furthermore, contrary to the blond jinchuriki, his chakra reserves were far from limitless even with six bodies at his disposal. Both warriors knew they only had not much left before they were out of chakra.

"You're the first one to ever damage the Six Paths of Pein to such an extend, even Jiraya-sensei did not go that far." Pein said.

"How dare you speak his name, your goals are so far from what Jiraya-sensei wanted for this world this isn't even funny." Replied Naruto.

"Are you sure about that ? Let me tell you a story then ..." Pein then started to tell Naruto his past and how he came to meet the Sannin and Jiraya.

"This is how your precious Konohagakure came into my home and killed everyone I ever loved, Uzumaki refugees, just like you and I my dear cousin." He finished his story with this particular sentence, surprising his opponent.

"We both lived hard lives, I don't really know what to feel about what you just told me about us but one thing is certain, peace through violence is not the answer." Naruto said.

"Then we shall see if your idea of peace can stand up to mine !" Replied Pein as Deva went through hand signs.

"**Chibaku Tensei !"** Yelled **Deva** as a small black sphere left his hands and floated high in the sky above Naruto.

Nothing happened immediately but after a few more seconds, Naruto could feel the ground shake beneath his feet. Then everything went fast as stones, trees, sand were pulled toward the sphere. Naruto was also caught by the attack and his movement were quickly restrained by the materials that were pulled towards the sphere alongside with him.

"This is said to be the jutsu used by the Sage of the Six Paths when he created the moon, even you won't be able to escape from it." Pein said as he kept the jutsu active. It had soon transformed into a giant boulder floating in the sky, crushing everything inside as new materials were continuously being pulled towards it.

Pein was about to release his hold on the jutsu when he started to feel strange, everything around him started to feel empty, no sound could be heard as if it had been sucked into the **Chibaku Tensei** itself. He started to look around, only to see Konan far away from him screaming at him. He still couldn't hear a sound, making it impossible for him to understand that she was trying to warn him about the incoming danger. When he saw her look up, he followed her gaze and finally understood, all but too late what she was trying to say to him.

The **Chibaku Tensei** had exploded from within, hundreds of highly condensed materials were falling down on him and he had no chakra left to push them away or even attempt to escape himself. As he was about to be showered by the avalanche of rocks and sand, his hears finally caught a sound again.

"Be honored to be the first to witness my strongest jutsu." That was Naruto's voice, however, Pein couldn't locate its source as it seemed to come from all around him.

Konan's eyes widened at what she saw, the **Deva** Path and everything that was falling down on him disappeared in a white flash without making any sound …

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Sasuke finally got his Mangekyo Sharingan and he knows the truth about Konoha and the massacre of his clan. Which path will he chose from there ?

The fight between Naruto and Pein is coming to an end, with Naruto once more victorious of course. The blond also learned about the existence of a long lost relative, how will he move from there ? I will reveal what jutsu he used the next time.

As usual please read and review.

Hoping to top the 600 reviews with this chapter.


	46. Time Trap

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Previous chapter set a new record for this story in terms of review, thanks to everyone total count now crossed over the six hundred reviews. Some may say they don't write for the reviews but it still really provides a good feeling to know that a chapter has been well received by the readers.<p>

There seems to be a slight misunderstanding about Sasuke's current situation, as some of you thought he would suddenly turn "good". I won't hide the fact that I'm not the greatest fan of that character so, I'll let you read the chapter but don't be too surprised when you see how it turns out.

The chapter will hopefully answer most of the questions reviewers had from the last few chapters. It may not be what you expected to see but try to have some patience, that's all I'm asking.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 46 : Time Trap<strong>

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Desert<strong>

As the flash disappeared, Konan could see only one man left standing, as she continued to run towards Pein and Naruto's last seen location. She couldn't understand why the **Deva** didn't react to her warnings when she yelled at him, telling him to look out for the incoming danger from his **Chibaku Tensei** that failed to contain the jinchuriki.

"Stop, please don't hurt him any more than that, I beg of you." Pleaded the only kunoichi of the Akatsuki, as she finally reached Naruto's position. The blond was about to take the **Deva** out by cutting off his head, but hold off his move when he heard her.

"It's alright, Konan. You need to escape, he shouldn't have enough chakra left to chase after you." Pein replied through the **Deva**. The last Path was laying on the ground, his body covered by cuts and completely out of chakra.

"Aren't those guys only puppets for you to move as you please ? Why the sudden attachment to this one in particular ?" Asked Naruto, surprised that Konan would come so close to him after what she had witnessed of their fight.

"This body comes from my former partner and best friend Yahiko, he died to protect the both of us and that's the reason why it is really precious to us." Pein told him.

"I see, I somehow knew those bodies were controlled like puppets. I wasn't sure if the one controlling them was among the six of them though. Fine, I'll leave it alone for now if you agree to meet with me, face to face." Naruto replied.

"Bring him to me Konan, I will explain everything when you get there." The **Deva** said as he finally ceased to move, as he had reached the limit of his chakra reserves.

Konan really didn't want to lose the **Deva** body, so with no other choice, she agreed to lead Naruto to the hideout that they chose before engaging Sunagakure.

Naruto let Konan take the **Deva** away, after he carefully removed all the chakra conducting devices it had all over the body. The kunoichi used a paper ability to completely recover the body and then they set out towards the hideout with Naruto right behind her, his katana out and ready to act if he detected any trap along the way.

The group soon reached a small cave, covered by a light genjutsu that hid its entrance. Naruto followed Konan as she went in first, letting the **Deva** outside.

"We finally meet face to face, Uzumaki Naruto." Pein said as Naruto entered the cave.

Naruto saw a man with red hair and purple eyes just like the pictures he saw from his mother, back inside his compound in Konoha. He was seated on a strange throne with numerous black poles coming out of his back. It reminded him of the devices the other bodies from the Paths, since they also had them all over their bodies.

"So that's how you were controlling those puppets of yours during our fight. Who are you really and why did you call me your cousin ?" Naruto asked, his guard still raised.

"My name is Uzumaki Nagato, my parents like your mother came from Uzushiogakure, home of the Uzumaki clan. After the war, my parents chose to flee towards Amegakure while your mother obviously chose Konoha instead." Nagato replied.

"Why are you with Akatsuki and also what do you seek the bijuu for ?" Naruto questioned his cousin, trying to understand his circumstances and how he became the leader of Akatsuki.

"Let me tell you how Akatsuki came to be and then you will give me an answer about how your ideal of peace compares to mine." Nagato announced.

The older Uzumaki then told Naruto the story of his life. Nagato had already spoken about the murder of his family by some Konoha shinobi, so he jumped right at the moment of Akatsuki's first days.

The group was exclusively first composed by war orphans, just like him, Konan and Yahiko. They completed several successful missions until they came across the Leaf again. Danzo and his Root were directly responsible for the death of Yahiko, and consequently Akatsuki's change of policies towards the way to reach peace.

Nagato then told Naruto about the burden of the **Rinnegan** on his frail body, and how it was used ever since to gather enough strength to force the world into an everlasting peace.

"So what do you think we should have done ? What would you have done, were you in my position, my dear cousin ?" Nagato said, carefully looking at Naruto's face.

"I understand where you're coming from, I can't even begin to imagine how you felt when you lost your parents to Konoha shinobi since I never knew mine. The death of your best friend is also a tragedy but even then, I'm sure Jiraya-sensei would have never wished for peace to happen this way." Naruto said.

"Even now, my hands are trembling as I long to take your life for what you did to our Sensei, but I also know that killing you won't bring him back ..." Naruto replied.

"You would spare the one who took your master's life ? Aren't you supposed to be the Shinobi Alliance's Leader ? What would those people think of you if they knew how you let someone like me escape ?" Nagato said, still expecting Naruto to turn against him.

"I would take responsibility for my actions, I'll explain your situation and if they can't agree with my reasoning, then it is safe to say that there was no room for an alliance to begin with. This is my shinobi way, you will have to give up on me giving up." Naruto answered him with a serious look in his eyes.

"The truth is that you won't have to take responsibility for anything else than continuing to protect your vision of Jiraya's dream, I was just testing your resolve. The last jutsu I used took a lot more of me that I really could afford, added to the fact that I wasn't in a good condition to begin with. I will die soon, and with my death you will remain as the last Uzumaki to walk this earth." Nagato finally told him.

"Nagato ! You can't be serious, you will live through this, we still have to bring peace to the world, you can't leave me alone." Konan pleaded as she came closer to her best friend, tears in her eyes.

"It's okay Konan, my time has already come. I've tried my best to achieve our dream of bringing peace to the world but in the end, I couldn't let go of my own hatred." Nagato replied before he turned to Naruto once more.

"What was the last jutsu that you used against me in our fight, Naruto ? I've never seen anything like that and I still can't understand what you did to the **Deva**." He asked the younger Uzumaki.

"The move you witnessed is my latest creation. I named it **Hifujin no Jutsu**, and basically, this technique allows me to become one with the wind. This is a space/time jutsu based on the **Hiraishin no Jutsu** that my father created, but contrary to him, I chose to focus on the Time component instead of Space." Naruto started to explain.

"In a predetermined area in space, thanks to my control over the wind element, I will be able to exist absolutely everywhere within that perimeter. It will create the feeling that Time itself has stopped for anyone that is trapped inside. Everything that is connected to the air element will fall under my absolute control, as the feeling of the wind, be it soft or sharp, or even the perception of the sounds created by its vibration." Naruto continued with his explanation.

"This is the Pinnacle of ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, kenjutsu and fuinjutsu all combined into a single jutsu. I'm not sure where it stands in terms of jutsu classification but I'm pretty certain that it's at least a SS-Rank and I'm without the shadow of a doubt the only one on earth that can perform it." Naruto finished.

"Impressive, our clan had always been known throughout the world for its creativity in jutsu creation. You are indeed an Uzumaki through and through. Before we part ways though, I need to warn you about one more thing, it's about the true goals behind Akatsuki ..."

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><p><strong>Timeskip – Konohagakure, One Week Later<strong>

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><p>"And that's how I defeated Uzumaki Nagato, my distant relative from the Uzumaki clan and public figure head of the Akatsuki. I would have like for you to be there, to see me use that new jutsu that we came up with together, it really is a masterpiece. Nagato warned me about the true ambitions behind the Akatsuki organization, what they seek to achieve by gathering all the bijuu. How I wish you would tell me what to do in this situation ..." Naruto said.<p>

It had been a week since he defeated Nagato in the second attempt to kidnap Gaara. The older Uzumaki died shortly after he had warned Naruto about Akatsuki and said his final words to Konan. The kunoichi decided to leave the organization after that and disappeared with the bodies of both Yahiko and Nagato.

Naruto had then returned to Sunagakure where he only stayed for one night after speaking to Gaara and then left again, finally going back to Konoha. He had again only spent the necessary time to explain the situation to Tsunade before he abruptly left and went back to his compound, taking an exemption of missions and clan duties thanks to his new status as the Alliance's Leader and having Kurenai as his representative for the council meetings.

No one had seen him since his return, as he never left his manor and Tsunade was the only one he allowed inside. When his friends interrogated the Hokage about it, she simply said that he had a personal issue to deal with and would meet with them again when he was done with it.

Naruto was currently in the master bedroom of the Namikaze compound, seated in a chair in a corner of he room. He was speaking in a soft voice with someone else in the room. The lights were off and it was already night time so it was quite hard to see who he was speaking to. When the moonlight finally illuminated the room, the figure of a woman could be seen laying on the bed. She was under the covers so only her face could be seen, it was the love of his life, Natsuki.

Naruto then stopped his tale for a moment, remembering how things turned out that way …

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><p><em><span>Flashback : Turtle Island - Day of the Unsealing<span>_

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><p><em>As Killer Bee and Yugito were pouring every bit of youki they could into the intricate seals that Naruto had painted on the floor, the <strong>Shiki Fuujin<strong> was slowly fading away from the young man's stomach._

_A youki cloak was covering his entire body as he was crouching down, the pain was unbearable and he had to use every force he had left in his body to remain conscious until the the procedure was over._

_Naruto had previously calculated that to contain the nine tails of youki within his body, an equivalent nine tails of youki would be needed. In order to not suffer from chakra exhaustion, Yugito would have to channel one tail and a half while Bee would need to supply the rest of it, seven tails and a half by himself._

_To an external observer it only lasted nine seconds but to the three of them it seemed to last for hours. When those nine seconds finally passed a blinding light illuminated the whole area, and as it faded, the bodies of Naruto and Natsuki could finally be seen in the center of the containment field that was drawn on the ground._

_Naruto slowly rose to his feet, only to see that his beloved wasn't moving from her spot. Yugito was immediately by Natsuki's side while Bee helped Naruto. The Kumo kunoichi told them that Natsuki was only unconscious._

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><p><em><span>End of Flashback<span>_

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><p>That was a week ago already, and Natsuki still didn't wake up. When Naruto had explained the situation to Tsunade, she was at first mad at him for trying something so reckless. She couldn't remain mad at him for too long though, seeing the state of desperation he was in made her feel sorry for the younger blond. She was the only one he had allowed to visit the compound where he had brought Natsuki to, thanks to the <strong>Hiraishin,<strong> and only after swearing secrecy.

Upon examining the red head, Tsunade had theorized that the loss of Natsuki's godly reserves of chakra or youki, as Naruto called it, was most likely the cause behind her current state. Tsunade had found nothing else out of the ordinary, Natsuki was in a perfect health. Naruto of course felt responsible, as the one who pushed for the unsealing while Natsuki wanted to take more time. Tsunade wanted to cheer him up, saying that it would only be a matter of days before his beloved would be up and running again when her chakra reserves fill up again.

The Hokage knew very well that neither Konoha nor the Alliance would be able to count on him until that time comes though. Naruto had only gone to Suna to save one of his closest friend, anything else would have to wait for now until further notice.

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><p><strong>Kusagakure<strong>

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><p>The minor village of Kusagakure was currently in chaos, as Oto shinobi were invading their walls. They never had a great army to begin with, so facing the surprisingly numerous shinobi hailing from the Sound village turned out to be quite difficult for them.<p>

Leading the charge was none other than the Nidaime Otokage himself, Uchiha Sasuke. The village's leader from Kusagakure fell against the might of his newly developed **Mangekyo Sharingan** as the black flames of the **Amaterasu** were burning everything in his path.

Controlling these new powers came to him surprisingly fast, as he already mastered the **Amaterasu** and the **Tsukyomi**. He was currently experimenting on a third jutsu, the **Susanoo**, ultimate protection jutsu given to him by reaching the **Mangekyo**. He still wondered why the masked man from the Akatsuki had provided him scrolls with all those techniques from the upgraded **Sharingan** or how they came into his possession to begin with.

He wasn't going to let this prevent him from enjoying his current victories though. This was indeed the continuation of a series of successes that Otogakure had recently achieved, first in taking total control over Ta no Kuni. Orochimaru had always acted in the shadows, hiding behind the Lord of that Nation to do his bidding. An Uchiha would not bow before anyone, thus Sasuke had decided to remove that obstacle in his ambitions. Then he set his sight towards the neighboring villages of Takigakure and then Kusagakure where his army was currently stationed.

As usual Kabuto was selected to lead Otogakure in his absence, with the strong backing of Guren. Sasuke still held her adoptive son or little brother captive, Yukimaru also known as subject Y, was strongly sedated and kept in a secret lab to ensure her loyalty to Sasuke.

Sakura was curiously chosen to remain in Takigakure when it was conquered, the medic kunoichi was in fact given the task to convert the mystical Hero Water into a substance that would serve Sasuke into creating an army of chakra powerhouses. Of course before that, she would need to analyze it, and then modify its structure into something less risky even if the power boost it gave was a little lower. To make sure his hold on the country was solid, Sasuke assigned Kimimaro, or formerly known as subject X, and Juugo to stay there as well. Kimimaro had become quite attached to his savior Sakura, almost to the point of worshiping her, while Juugo was the original source of Orochimaru's curse seal and only accepted to follow Kimimaro.

The ones currently traveling with Sasuke were Karin and Suigetsu. Karin had good knowledge of their target since she originally hailed from Kusagakure and Suigetsu just tagged along to annoy her as the red head had hopped to go on this little adventure with her beloved raven haired leader alone.

"Well that wasn't much of a challenge, those people were as weak as you are Karin." Suigetsu said with a smirk as they were seated in the office of the village's leader.

"So why did you come here in the first place ?" Karin replied.

"Will you two both shut the hell up, I'm a bit tired from using this new move so much. Give me some water Karin." Sasuke said, effectively shutting them up while Karin went to serve him her a glass of water.

As she handed him the glass, they were surprised to see him drop it. Sasuke was the most surprised and had troubles to understand what had just happened. One moment he was a bit tired and the next he momentarily lost his eyesight.

"Hey are you alright, Sasuke ?" Suigetsu asked.

"I'm fine, mind your own business." Sasuke replied.

"_It seems using those eyes isn't as safe as I thought, I may need to give more thoughts to that man's proposal after all ..."_ Thought the Otokage as his eyesight slowly returned.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

The end of the Pein arc, with the same result as in canon storyline as Nagato dies and Konan leaves the organization. Naruto got some more info on Akatsuki though, what do you think Nagato told him about them ?

I'm still trying to come up with a cool name for the new jutsu family Naruto developed (mixing ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, kenjutsu and fuinjutsu in a single attack). Leave me suggestions if you have some. On a similar note, what did you think of his newest jutsu ?

Na-chan is asleep, will her prince charming wake her up with a kiss ?

Oto is on the move, Sasuke has played with his **Mangekyo** and experimented it on his neighbors. What do you think of the repartition of his staff among the different villages under his control ?

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

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><p><strong>HiFujin no Jutsu : <strong>translates as the Flying Wind God. Naruto's wind adaptation of the **Hiraishin no Jutsu**. Only possible while in the ultimate form of his bloodline. Contrary to the Hiraishin where the user can be present at two positions in space at the same time, this technique allows its caster to be present everywhere inside a delimited perimeter for a definite amount of time and the victim who is trapped inside this field is under the impression that time has stopped. Naruto becomes one with the wind, suppressing his enemy's senses and doing as he pleases with them.


	47. Loose Ends

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Let's get started with the usual Q&amp;A feedback from the previous chapter. I was expecting readers to be mad that Natsuki and Naruto still couldn't get their reunion scene, I'm glad everyone is patient and more or less went with the twist of her remaining unconscious due to total chakra  youki exhaustion.

Got mixed reactions to Otogakure / Sasuke taking over Takigakure and Kusagakure. To be honest, I didn't really research those two villages, all I knew was that they were minor villages. Those easy wins, or what the reviewer **'Rixxell Stryfe'** accurately defined as "Blitzkrieg" victories, serve as a way to expand the chessboard for the future world war to come. It doesn't make much sense to have the five allied major village bullying a single minor country now, does it ?

Thanks to all those who gave a suggestion for the new shinobi art used by Naruto in their reviews, the official name as been chosen and will be revealed when Naruto uses the jutsu again.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 47 : Loose Ends<strong>

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><p><strong>Konohagakure – Hokage Office<strong>

Tsunade was going through her daily stack of paperwork, having visited Naruto and his new "fiancee" before she came to her office. The blonde Hokage still couldn't believe that the red haired woman with Naruto was the human incarnation of the most powerful demon to have ever lived. Natsuki, as Naruto called her, was still in a comatose state as her chakra reserves were still critically low. Tsunade couldn't understand why they didn't replenish faster than that.

She was going through another meaningless marriage proposal for the Namikaze Clan Head, using her "Denied" seal without even looking at its contents. Ever since the general population learned about his famous lineage and with the reputation that Naruto had built with his own hands, proposals as the one she was currently putting aside were a daily occurrence. Naruto made it clear that it wouldn't happen more than once, he even had Kurenai announce it during council meetings as the issue kept coming back even there too.

Tsunade was going to reach for the next document she had to read when the door to her office suddenly opened, revealing her assistant and apprentice, Shizune coming in.

"Is there something wrong, Shizune ?" The blonde woman asked.

"I'm afraid so, Tsunade-sama. It seems you former teammate, Orochimaru has perished." Shizune replied to her master, not sure where her master stood concerning the Snake Sannin.

"And how exactly is that bad news for me or Konoha ?" Tsunade said in a neutral tone, showing that she had severed any bond she ever had with the vile snake long ago.

"Because that's only part of the news actually, the one who took his life and consequently became the Nidaime Otokage is none other than another one of our missing nin Uchiha Sasuke." Shizune told the Hokage.

"Damn that brat, and damn that cursed clan too. How did we came up with this info anyway ? Naruto is our spy master and with him currently "out of service", there's not much we can do in intelligence gathering at the moment." Tsunade asked, curious as to how Shizune knew all this.

"That's quite simple, Tsunade-sama. The Uchiha took over Takigakure and Kusagakure with his forces. He acted so fast that we didn't receive any assistance request from our ally Takigakure." Shizune replied.

"What do we know of their current activities ?" Tsunade asked.

"Nothing much I'm afraid, their borders were quickly sealed off after the invasions started, not many refugees managed to flee from those villages." The brunette said.

"Very well, call for an emergency council meeting. Everyone is to gather in the council room in one hour. I'll go drag Naruto out of his house myself." Tsunade said, standing up from behind her desk.

"One last thing, sensei. Sakura has been spotted in Sasuke's army ranks ..." Shizune said as she used a **Shunshin** to leave the room.

This was another sore subject for Tsunade, her other former apprentice, Haruno Sakura. It was a major regret for Tsunade that she couldn't beat the fangirl out of Sakura. The girl held so many promises in the medical field and her talent even rivaled Shizune's. All that wasted into a life at the service of that damn Uchiha brat.

Tsunade then used a **Shunshin** too, making her way towards the Namikaze compound.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – God's Tower<strong>

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><p>Konan had assumed the mantle of Amekage as Nagato died, even if it was a secret for now. The people from the village were already familiar with the "Angel of Amegakure" giving them orders from their God, Pein. The death of Nagato had been kept secret by the former Akatsuki's kunoichi, she was running the village to the best of her abilities, just trying to survive another day. She didn't enjoy playing the "God" part but it was a necessity for now, as the situation was very unstable and the last thing she wanted was a civil war to break out and more war orphans like her.<p>

The Amegakure shinobi, under Nagato's reign, had become a force to be reckoned. They were disciplined and always meticulous in performing their respective duties. Mistakes were not acceptable during Pein's leadership, so everyone was used to getting their job done flawlessly.

A jonin then entered her office, with some important news judging by his nervousness.

"Angel-sama, there are intruders inside our borders. What should we do with them, what are God's orders ?" The jonin said as he bowed to her.

"Did they show any signs that could tell us where they're coming from ?" Konan asked.

"Their headbands indicate that they hail from Otogakure, Angel-sama." The jonin said.

"Very well, intercept and detain for interrogation, captain." Konan replied.

"As you command." Said the man before he left to follow her orders.

Under her apparent calm behavior, Konan was very anxious about her people's safety. She was after all a war orphan and didn't want any child to share her fate to grow up during war times. She tried to remain in control of her emotions, not wanting to create panic among the citizens and then started to assess the situation.

The news of Oto invading all the way here in Amegakure was quite strange, Konan wondered for a moment how they managed to go through all the nations that stood between Ta no Kuni and Amegakure. She then understood, as she deduced that they were not the first ones to be attacked. The Angel of Ame even correctly guessed that Sasuke and his forces must have come through Takigakure and Kusagakure before reaching their borders as the only other option was to go through Hi no Kuni, and consequently risking the wrath of Konohagakure.

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><p><strong>Borders of Rain Country<strong>

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><p>Sasuke and his men were currently traveling at great speed through the rain towards their new target, Amegakure or the land where it never stops to rain. He was escorted by Suigetsu as Karin was chosen to remain in Kusagakure. The read head had been less than thrilled when Sasuke ordered her to stay back while he left with Suigetsu. The Kenjutsu and Suiton specialist was the most logical choice, since they were going to fight in an area where water would be everywhere.<p>

There was only one flaw so far in Sasuke's plans, the fact that he had to leave some of his captains and troops behind each time he switched to a new target. It was not really an issue up until now since their goals were all minor villages so far and they had good intel on them each time.

Takigakure was a place he had once visited in his genin days while Karin knew Kusagakure like the back of her hand. Ame would be a little different though, they had no information about that village. Sasuke was still confident in his abilities, no one so far had offered him a decent challenge once he used the Mangekyo powers and he was quite sure this time would be no different.

"Any news from the scouts yet, Suigetsu ?" The Uchiha asked.

"Still nothing, they left quite some time ago now ..." Suigetsu replied.

"Useless fools, do I have to do everything on my own ?" Was Sasuke's reaction, not in the least worried about his men.

"We should arrive in one hour, do you know anything about them ?" The swordsman asked.

"Only that their leader was the one who beat the Snake's ass and gave him the Sannin tittle. That was a while ago so now he must be too old to fight and his successor won't be a match for any of us." Sasuke said with a smirk.

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><p><strong>Meanwhile – Konohagakure<strong>

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><p>Tsunade managed to get Naruto out of his compound, with the news of Otogakure being on the move and its latest conquests under the leadership of Uchiha Sasuke. They were now seated in their respective spots in the council room for the emergency meeting Tsunade had requested.<p>

"We should reinstate Uchiha Sasuke, for taking out a highly dangerous criminal by himself." Yelled a civilian representative councilman after the situation was explained to everyone.

"Yeah, I don't think so. The orders will remain unchanged, should any of our shinobi come in contact with Uchiha Sasuke, they are to treat him like any other missing nin, detain and if it is impossible, then elimination is authorized." Tsunade said.

More civilians representatives were arguing, not happy that Konoha would forsake the precious **Sharingan**. Naruto was starting to rapidly lose his patience at listening to them while he wanted nothing more than leave the room and join Natsuki back in his compound. Danzo chose this precise moment to speak up.

"A compromise maybe, to please every party here. Rescind the killing order and once we capture him, he shall be permanently detained, his chakra and consequently **Sharingan** sealed. I can also offer my assistance, in keeping him prisoner in one of my "treatment" centers to prevent him from meeting the rest of Konoha's population." The War Hawk said, getting nods of approval from the civilian side.

"That's not gonna happen." Naruto finally snapped, as he spoke his first words of the entire session.

"What did you just say, boy ?" Danzo asked in his usual cold and calculative tone.

"Are you deaf, old man ? I said it isn't going to happen so you can forget about your dreams of creating an army of Sharingan wielders loyal to your twisted ideals." Naruto replied.

No one on the shinobi council was a fan of Danzo and his teaching methods or radical ideas but Naruto's outburst managed to surprise even them. Before anyone from the civilian council could say more, Naruto spoke again.

"Actually, I would like to take this opportunity to bring up some sensitive information I've been made aware of in front of this council. As the things I will reveal are highly confidential I need everyone that is not above the jonin level of clearance to leave this room, I'm afraid to say that includes all the civilian representatives too." The Namikaze clan head said.

The civilians reluctantly left the meeting room, only leaving the shinobi council and Danzo behind as he was a certified jonin too, even if he was not on the active duty list anymore due to his age and injuries.

"What is it, what did you learn that's so important Namikaze-san ?" Shikaku Nara asked.

Before anyone could react, Naruto suddenly disappeared from his seat in a white flash and reappeared again right behind Danzo. The blond then slammed his hand in the back of the unprepared War Hawk to apply some kind of paper with weird looking writings on it.

"**Uzumaki Hijutsu : Sajo Sabaku !"** Naruto said as chains shot out of the paper he put on Danzo's back, completely immobilizing him.

"What the hell, Naruto ?" Tsunade yelled from her seat.

"I was told an interesting story about our little friend right here. You see, it's the tale of someone with so much ambitions he would do anything for more powers. Dear old Danzo here, has been conspiring against the Leaf and its last three leaders." Naruto replied as he applied more pressure on holding Danzo down.

"Lies ! I have and will always serve the Leaf." Yelled Danzo as he found it really hard to move, or even channel chakra.

"Naruto-kun, he's been bugging me for decades too but you can't just attack a citizen from Konoha like this." The Sandaime said, from his seat next to Tsunade as her only counselor in the Elder council.

"Actually, according to the chart of the Shinobi Alliance, I, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto as its leader, have the authority to act against any threat related to the Akatsuki and its supporters, regardless of ranks, positions or lineage." Naruto replied with authority.

"That's true, sensei. Only a vote from at least three of the five Kage can overrule one of Naruto's decision on Akatsuki's matters, not that I plan to do so, though. I trust your judgment on this, Naruto, but can you at least tell us more about what you said and do you have proofs of what you're accusing him of ?" Tsunade said to both the Sandaime and Naruto.

"Of course, Ba-chan. I must warn you that you won't like it though, you won't like this at all ..." Naruto said as he started to reveal what Danzo hid behind his bandages and clothes.

Everyone in the room gasped at the sight, Danzo had **Sharingan** eyes implanted all over his right arm, one in his covered eye and the arm itself looked really strange too. Only Tsunade and the Sandaime knew what they were looking at.

"You would fall this low, Danzo. You've been working with Orochimaru and helped him develop his sick jutsu since the beginning." Hiruzen said with a heavy sigh, disappointed by his former rival for the position of Sandaime Hokage.

"You traitor, how dare you ? You were the one who desecrated the tomb of my grandfather, you bastard !" Snarled Tsunade as she called for ANBU.

"Take him to a secured cell and have have Ibiki immediately interrogate him, this is a priority mission, do not fail me." Tsunade said as her ANBU took Danzo away.

"Is there anything else that we need to discuss while I'm here ?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade nodded to him and she motioned for Shizune to come in the middle of the room. Shizune did as ordered and went to middle of the room with a map in her hand. Once she displayed it on a table for everyone to see, she made her way back to her master's side.

"This is the current situation with Otogakure. They conquered Takigakure, Kusagakure and according to our spies they are currently moving towards Amegakure. We now have to discuss how to deal with them." Tsunade said.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that Sasuke's troops were closing in Amegakure.

"Gotta go Ba-chan, sorry everyone this is an emergency." Naruto said as he disappeared in a white flash.

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><p><strong>Amegakure<strong>

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><p>Buildings and trees were burning, even in the village where the rain never stopped. Konan stood, out of breath, in front of God's Tower, her chakra reserves gone and every ally around her dead or dying.<p>

In front of her stood Sasuke, his cursed seal deployed to the second level. The Uchiha had numerous burnt marks all over his body that were slowly healing. More and more Oto shinobi were approaching their positions and she was the last one standing from Ame.

"I have to admit that your village was much more of a challenge than Kusagakure or Takigakure. Nevertheless you will fall before the might of the Uchiha clan like everyone else. Kill her !" Sasuke said as his men charged at Konan.

"_Is it the end ? I can still use the **Kami no Shisha no Jutsu**, even though I prepared it specifically to counter Madara."_ Thought Konan as the Oto shinobi were advancing.

"**Futon : Hakugei !"** Said a new voice that only two people recognized on the battlefield.

A gust of wind suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stopped the Oto jonin from getting closer to Konan. After a few seconds, the wind died down and the jonin were about to charge forward again when each and every one of them exploded in a shower of blood.

Sasuke turned to the source of the voice to see a familiar face, a ghost from his past that also stood in his path to become the best.

"Naruto ..." Said the Otokage.

"_What was that jutsu just now, I saw everything with my **Sharingan** but I couldn't copy it. The wind he launched against my jonin was highly charged with chakra and when they inhaled it, they exploded as he forced that chakra out of their bodies."_ Analyzed Sasuke.

Seeing her savior, Konan finally released her guard. She lost her balance and started to fall to the ground, exhausted both physically and mentally. Naruto caught her before she touched the ground and let her rest against his shoulder.

"So that's Konoha's Kaze no Kami, one of your old classmates and the Leader of the Shinobi Alliance, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. I always wanted to try my sword against him since he's also one of Kirigakure's Swordsman." Suigetsu said as he joined Sasuke.

"And here I thought I would pay a visit to a former accomplice of mine ..." Announced yet another voice from behind Sasuke and Suigetsu.

"Uchiha Madara ..." Said Konan from her position next to Naruto.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Has Otogakure's expansion finally come to an end ? How will Naruto deal with both Sasuke and Madara at the same time while defending a weakened Konan ?

Danzo has been caught too, will his interrogation go smoothly, will the War Hawk take it laying down or will he resist ?

Read the next issue to find out :)

Naruto is finally starting to pull ranks with his new status, some people complained that he didn't efficiently use the tittle he got from the Kage meeting. I hope this pleases you.

As usual, please Read and Review.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

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><p><strong>Uzumaki Hijutsu : Sajo Sabaku<strong>, translates as Uzumaki Secret Arts : Locking Bondage Stripes. This move comes from the Bleach Verse and it is basically used here as an Uzumaki customized chakra and movement restriction seal using the chains that were already show in a previous chapter (13).

**Futon : Hakugei**, translates as the White Whale. Basically a combination between a weakened **Furyudan no Jutsu** and Naruto's **Shin'Zou Hakai**. Naruto projects a highly chakra charged wind gust against a group of enemy and when they inhale it, he forces the wind out of their body using his mastery over the wind element, resulting in gruesome internal explosions of the victims.


	48. The Root of Evil

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Reading some of the comments from the reviews really made me wonder if some of the things I'm trying to portray are really understood by the readers. Now, I could understand that there are people unsatisfied that I'm not killing off Sasuke, however, what ever gave you the impression that I'd have Konohagakure forgive him or Sakura for their crimes ?<p>

According to the prophecy from the toads, you all know that either Madara or Sasuke would be chosen to become Naruto's Nemesis in my story, something to do with a "man with powerful eyes". There is but one man that can fill that position as the perfect opposite to our blond hero, there will be a twist to it that I won't spoil, but I think that it should be quite original once revealed.

I see some criticism about powering up or even just developing some background for Sasuke or any villain I might chose to oppose to Naruto. Well, I really see no point in having a truly strong or maybe godlike Naruto, only to have him win against weak or dumb enemies. It needs to be "fair" enough and I hope you'll agree with me on this. That said, and up until now, no one really comes close to Naruto in terms of character development, as well as skill improvements, so there's really no need to complain about this just yet.

Finally, the unsigned reviewer **'anon'** left a really interesting review after cruising through the entire story in the span of a few hours. His conclusion so far is that my writing style improved nicely from the first chapters up to this one. He advised me a rewrite of the first ten chapters to improve them with what I've learned from experience so far. I considered it since it is absolutely true that those chapters do have flaws, but on the other hand it's still my first story, I'm not looking for perfection if that even exists. I enjoy seeing my progression through this story from its beginning.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 48 : The Root of Evil<strong>

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><p><strong>Amegakure<strong>

The newcomer stood behind Sasuke and Suigetsu who were, themselves, standing right in front of Naruto. The blond could feel that Konan was lightly trembling against his body, most likely in fear of that man. He wearing the Akatsuki's clothes and an orange mask. The name of Uchiha Madara also took him by surprise, remembering the things he had read about that man in the past.

"I'm not quite sure I heard you correctly, Konan. Who is this man again ?" Naruto asked his companion.

"T-That's Uchiha Madara. Famous as the founder of the Uchiha clan and for his part in the creation of Konohagakure. However, he is also the one who is secretly leading the Akatsuki's organization as the agent codename Tobi. Use your memory, Nagato also warned you about him." Konan replied to Naruto.

"Do you know where he stands, in terms of power, compared to Nagato ?" The blond asked.

"He is stronger for sure, but to what extend remains unknown, even to me. Be very careful from now on, for just like you and your father, he can use Space/Time techniques. He has the ability to place his body "out of phase" for a maximal period of five minutes, during that time he cannot be touched by any physical attacks. Finally, he most likely possesses additional unknown **Sharingan** powers. Make sure you don't look him right in the eyes for as long as you are in his presence, he is the one who put a hypnosis genjutsu on both Yagura and the Sandaime Tsuchikage." The Amekage said.

Naruto's eyes widened as he listened to Konan's description of their newest enemy. No one up until now had been able to use Space/Time jutsu against him, the thought of fighting such a strong foe almost made him enjoy the situation. He sobered up soon enough though, as he could still feel the frail body of Konan against his own and knew that he wouldn't be able to fight off those three in front of him, while covering up for an exhausted Konan at the same time.

"It's been such a long time, we finally meet again, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." Tobi said.

"I don't think we've met, I'm pretty sure I would remember meeting a freak like you, whoever it is hiding behind that lame ass mask." Naruto said with a smirk, trying to get a reaction from the legendary Uchiha "ego".

"Can't really blame you for this, since you were just born the last time we met. Maybe I should have eliminated you instead of just your parents on that day, seeing how much trouble you've caused me ever since you became a ninja." The masked man said.

Konan, Sasuke and Suigetsu were stunned by what they just heard. The masked man was the one who was responsible for the Yondaime Hokage's and his wife's deaths. Everyone knew that the Yondaime lost his life against the Kyuubi, so it was quite easy to see what he was trying to say.

"You're the one who used the power of the Kyuubi against Konoha that day, and forced my father to seal it inside me ..." Naruto said as he connected the dots. He still left aside the part about Kyuubi being Natsuki or more importantly, that she was now freed from the seal, even if her youki was still locked inside him.

Tobi was quite impressed by the fact that Naruto didn't charge at him in a fit of anger, the blond seemed to be much more level headed than what he supposed he would be. He knew that Naruto was dangerous, in a one on one fight he may have been able to win but there were external parameters here that needed to be considered first.

For one, he couldn't afford to lose Sasuke, that would be catastrophic for his plans. The younger Uchiha was currently too unstable, contrary to the Namikaze and it was only a matter of time before he would snap and charge against his blond rival. Tobi also remembered that he didn't come here for this, he originally came to retrieve another key piece that he needed for his plan.

"I don't know what they're planning but we have to get the hell out of this place, Konan." Naruto said discretely.

"We can't leave, he came here to steal Nagato's body, or more specifically the **Rinnegan**." She argued with Naruto, refusing to leave Nagato's body behind.

"Look, from what I've seen on my way here, you're the only one left from Amegakure. All your men died and the civilians have already fled from the village. You life is more important than the **Rinnegan** and I promised Nagato that I would look after you. I beg of you, I don't want to fail my cousin's last wish." Naruto pleaded with her.

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><p><strong>Meanwhile – Konohagakure, Namikaze Compound<strong>

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><p>The Namikaze manor was as calm as ever, since Naruto modified its entrance seal, only people with Uzumaki blood could come inside his home. This was mainly because doing so would only allow one person other than himself to enter, Tsunade, as the Godaime was the granddaughter of Uzumaki Mito. However, the silence was suddenly interrupted by a noise coming from the master bedroom.<p>

Natsuki stirred inside the bed she had been placed in, slowly awaking from her extended slumber. The red head opened her eyes, only to find herself in an unfamiliar place, all alone. Her memories were still confused, the last thing she remembered was the voice of Naruto yelling through their link as the pain submerged the both of them during the unsealing.

"Naruto !" She suddenly yelled, literally jumping out of the bed only to immediately fall back down on the ground in front of her. Judging from her inability to move her legs, she could guess that some time must have passed since the unsealing.

She did her best to climb back into the bed and managed to do so after quite some time and lots of efforts. Looking around, her eyes fell upon the giant portrait of her previous container, Uzumaki Kushina with the man who sealed her inside Naruto, his father Namikaze Minato.

"_This must be inside the Namikaze Compound in Konohagakure. This is most likely the master bedroom of the manor. Why am I here, all alone and where the hell is Naru-kun ?"_ She thought, not taking her eyes off the picture.

After some time and bored out of her mind, she decided to try moving her legs again. This time she tried to access her youki reserves to help but found that they were either completely depleted or maybe she simply didn't have youki anymore. This was something she had considered a possibility when Naruto discussed the unsealing ritual and its possible outcomes with her.

Seeing that her attempts to channel youki had failed, she then decided to try with regular chakra. The sensation was new to her, however, since she was the one who taught Naruto how to access his own chakra, the memory of how he did it was still engraved in her memories. She knew that if she had no youki left, then the only possibility for her to even be alive was that she might have another source of energy, thus she tried to gather chakra.

This time it worked, she succeeded in moving her legs thanks to the chakra she channeled. As a infant taking his first steps, Natsuki started to walk around the room, testing the limit of her new form. This made her wonder about her current status, what was she ? Was she still a demonic entity or had she become a human ? Maybe a little bit of both, like a jinchuriki.

When she found herself satisfied with her current mobility, she decided to go take a bath as it must have been some time since she had this new body and whoever was taking care of her must have only gave her the basic care in that field. Plus, taking a good bath would most likely help in relaxing her body and by so increase her control over it. Once done she returned to the bedroom.

Taking a better look at herself in a mirror, she saw that the only clothing she had was a nightgown and panties. She blushed at the thought of her beloved, Naruto, being the one who put those clothes on her. She decided to look through Kushina's stuff, in order to find something more decent to wear. She managed to find a nice looking yukata, it was white with a red obi that went really well with her own red hair. It had a strange small emblem in the back, in the form of a blue lightning bolt. She paid it no mind and focused her attention on finding new underwear and shoes.

Once fully clothed, she decided to go out and explore a bit to find out the whereabouts of her fiancee as well as knowing more of what happened in the world while she was asleep. Some of the shared memories she had from Naruto about the house and its defense mechanism made her carefully test the different seals she found inside the house to see whether she could still get back inside if she needed to. Luckily, it seems that creating a body for her from inside Naruto had made it possible for her to be accepted by every seal that protected the Namikaze domain.

With everything in order, she finally made her way out of the compound, taking her first steps inside Konoha ever since the attack almost seventeen years ago. This time there was no **Sharingan** to force her to attack people against her will, she decided she would try to be a little more discrete.

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><p><strong>Back in Amegakure<strong>

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><p>"Well, I thought you wanted to get out of here, why are we still here ? Can't you just move us back to the Leaf the same way you arrived here, with the <strong>Hiraishin<strong> ?" Konan asked.

"It's not that easy, believe me I would if I could. I had to transport myself to the kunai you left in that Kage Tower of yours, it takes a lot more chakra to use that jutsu when I have to transport someone else with me, plus to travel over a great distance such as the one between Konohagakure and this place is also chakra consuming. We will have to wait for my chakra to replenish a little bit more before we can safely attempt another jump." Naruto replied, as he continued to walk away with her on his back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to risk your life for me. Now it's even worse, you still came but you're severely handicapped by unnecessarily wasting energy for that jutsu and now protecting me at the same time." Konan said in sadness.

"Don't worry about it, you're not a burden to me. Furthermore, I've launched a pretty strong genjutsu field around us, they won't be able to locate us for the time being, even with those damn eyes of theirs. It's called **Kyouka Suigetsu **and it's strong enough to hide the both of us until I can use my jutsu again." Naruto said with a reassuring tone.

Meanwhile, with the Oto delegation, Sasuke was furious.

"How the hell did they just vanish in front of us, my eyes couldn't detect anything." The Otokage said in anger.

"No idea, maybe he used that famous Space/Time jutsu of his, the **Hiraishin** ?" Suigetsu suggested.

"I'm afraid you're both wrong, he neither just vanished nor did he transported himself away with that jutsu." Tobi said.

"Then what happened ? How did they disappeared from right in front of us ?" Sasuke asked.

"I've been told by a spy of mine that witnessed several of Naruto's fights that he can most likely use special genjutsu techniques that can even fool the **Sharingan**. I think that he just managed to prove that theory right." Tobi said before he saw a lightning sword pierce right through his neck while another familiar one, the **Samehada**, passed through his chest.

The attacks failed as the masked man had moved out of phase, surprising both of his attackers.

"You're still as predictable as ever, Sasuke. Come and find me when you're ready to talk ..." Tobi said as he phased through the ground, leaving Sasuke and Suigetsu alone.

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><p><strong>Konohagakure<strong>

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><p>Natsuki was currently enjoying her first meal since she got her new body, in a familiar Dango restaurant. She was currently at her fifth plate, getting surprised looks from the other customers and the restaurant's staff.<p>

"Hmm delicious, so this is called Dango, I love it !" Said the red head as she finished her meal.

"Would you like to have anything else ?" A waitress asked her.

"No, I'm good thank you." Natsuki replied with a smile.

"That will be 10,000 Ryo, please." The waitress said.

Natsuki's eyes widened as she heard the price, she had forgotten to bring money with her when she left the compound. The concept of money was totally foreign to her but being sealed inside three human hosts made her understand it a little. Still, she knew it would take some time for her to remember every little detail like this if she ever wanted to live among other human beings.

Seeing Natsuki's embarrassed expression, the waitress immediately understood that the red head couldn't pay for her meal. She had no choice but to call for her boss. A man came out of the private part of the restaurant and the waitress explained the situation to him.

The boss was about to call the ninja police when two familiar faces appeared behind him.

"What's the matter boss, I've been waiting for my Dango for too long." Anko said.

"You're such a child Anko." Kurenai told her friend.

"Ah, perfect timing Anko. I've got a customer who ordered 10,000 Ryo worth of Dango but can't pay the bill. I was going to call for a ninja but since you guys are here maybe you could help." The boss said to his number one customer.

The purple haired kunoichi was about to arrest Natsuki when Kurenai suddenly blocked her way.

"What are you doing, Kurenai ?" Anko asked her friend. Dango was sacred to her, not paying for it was a serious crime to her.

"Where did you get that yukata, miss ?" Kurenai asked, recognizing the Namikaze crest on Natsuki's clothes.

"I'm so sorry, I forgot to bring money with me when I left Naruto's house." Natsuki replied.

Kurenai and Anko were surprised when they heard the name of her former student. This confirmed her suspicion about the red haired woman being somehow related to Naruto. Having been selected by Naruto to act as a representative for him on council meetings when he couldn't attend made Kurenai familiar with the Namikaze Clan and its crest.

"Are you related to Uzumaki Naruto ?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes, he's my fiance ! Are you a friend of Naru-kun ? Where is he, please tell me !" Yelled Natsuki as soon as Kurenai pronounced the name of her mate.

Kurenai was confused at first but decided to help anyway, paying for the bill.

"I think we have things to discuss. Come with me please, I'll lead you to Hokage-sama, she will know where Naruto is." She said to Natsuki who nodded back and followed after her towards the Hokage Tower.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

More of an introduction chapter between Tobi and Naruto than the fight some of you anticipated. Neither side was ready to fight, nothing to worry about, there's always a next time.

Introduced a new parameter in the **Hiraishin** I felt was not addressed before, the "throwing the kunai" thing. It's not clear in my head if the kunai needs to simply be thrown or if chakra needs to be channeled through it too. Anyway, I also wondered if it was still possible to move to it if it wasn't thrown so I took the liberty to add this limitation thing when the person Naruto gives the kunai to doesn't throw it. Feel free to comment on this in your reviews if you have more info on this issue.

Now, our favorite red head vixen is finally back ! I was considering having her enjoying her first meal at Ichiraku but the Dango place was a better place for her to meet someone who could recognize her with the Namikaze symbol. I'm still clueless on the currencies used in the Naruto verse so I went with the Yen value for the approximate amount of money needed for Natsuki's meal.

How will Naruto and Konan get the hell out of Amegakure without being detected by either Oto or Tobi ?

Will Sasuke accept to join force with Tobi ?

Whatever happened to Danzo ?

Read the next issue to find out and as usual please Read and Review.


	49. Escaping the Rain

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>It seems like everyone in the reviews agrees on the fact that Minato could transport himself to any kunai, had it been thrown or not. You still have to wonder how he may differentiate two kunai, that he cannot see, placed at an equal distance from his original position before deciding to jump towards the correct destination. That said, the chakra requirement to travel over long distance or the mass he has to move around (Konan and himself) should also be taken into account in my opinion, so that will be the reason why Naruto and Konan didn't immediately leave Ame in the previous chapter.<p>

Something else came up in the reviews, a question about whether Naruto met his parents or not in my story. Already answered the person who asked but I'll clarify it for everyone else too. The answer is no on both account. I never had him trying to rip the seal off, that wouldn't be easy anyway since he transformed it into a necklace for Natsuki when he changed the mindscape. Furthermore, he also never tried to "dominate" the Kyuubi since he had her full cooperation from the beginning. Consequently, he never met the requirements to trigger the reunion scenes with his parents in his mindscape in this story.

The moment for Naruto and Natsuki to reunite in the real world has finally come. Hope you enjoy reading it.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 49 : Escaping the Rain<strong>

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Sewer Area<strong>

Naruto and Konan were still hiding behind Naruto's genjutsu field as more and more Otogakure shinobi were arriving in the village and took over the key buildings. They had seen neither Sasuke nor Tobi ever since they left the battlefield.

"Are you okay, Naruto ? How are your reserves, how will they even rise up again if you have to constantly cast that illusion field around us ?" Konan asked, worried for the blond.

"When I activate this ultimate form from my bloodline, my chakra and stamina consumptions are reduced by a half. As long as I don't cast any other high level jutsu or move unnecessarily, I should be fine. It won't be much longer, you don't need to worry." Naruto replied.

"At least let me take over on the camouflage, I think I can hide the both of us behind my bloodline too, this way you will recover even faster." Konan pleaded.

"Have you tested your technique against the **Sharingan** and its upgraded versions ? Because if you haven't, then that's too dangerous, let's just take our time." Naruto said with a smile.

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><p><strong>God's Tower<strong>

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><p>In another part of the city, Sasuke was resting inside the Amekage Tower in what used to be Pein's office.<p>

"_I'm still too weak, that blond idiot used techniques that I couldn't even comprehend. My eyes are getting worse with each use of the **Mangekyo Sharingan**. I won't be able to face the Leaf in my current state ..."_ Thought the Nidaime Otokage as he looked down on his newest acquisition through the window of the office. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Suigetsu entered the room. The swordsman had a scroll with him and handed it to Sasuke.

"That's an emergency scroll from Kabuto, you should read it immediately." Said Suigetsu.

Sasuke read the scroll and his eyes widened at what he saw inside. Surprise was rapidly replaced by anger as he clenched his fist and destroyed the scroll.

"Bad news, I guess." Suigetsu said as he looked at Sasuke's behavior.

"Seems like the Leaf found out about Danzo's little dirty secrets and his involvement with my former teacher. I don't know what they plan to do with him but he's my prey, I won't let anyone else but me kill that old fool." Sasuke replied. The Elders from Konoha had been on Sasuke's hit list ever since he learned the truth from Itachi about his clan and the massacre.

"What's the plan, what are you going to do about it ? It's not like we have enough troops to face Konoha, much less the entire Alliance, right now ..." Suigetsu asked Sasuke, trying to point out the obvious gap in military strength between the Leaf and Oto.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing that Suigetsu was right. He also knew that his Sharingan was starting to get unstable. This made him remember Tobi or Madara's words to him and his offer to join forces.

"You're in charge, Suigetsu. Close the borders, rebuild the defenses and then report back to Kabuto once you're done." Sasuke said as he made his way towards the exit of the office.

"Wait, what about you ? Where are you going ?" The silver haired swordsman asked back.

"I'm going to get some answers ..." Sasuke cryptically replied as he disappeared from the Amekage Office, leaving a confused Suigetsu behind.

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><p><strong>Below the City<strong>

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><p>Tobi phased out of the ceiling to appear in what appeared to be a tomb. The room was huge, decorated with numerous flowers that were all made of paper. In the center, peacefully laid the bodies of both Nagato and Yahiko.<p>

"Finally, that woman did a good job at hiding you." He said to no one in particular while looking at Nagato's body.

"She however forgot, in her haste, that you still got some of those chakra conducting devices attached to your body. As long as I had one of those receptors you used to control your puppets with, I could trace back your presence." Tobi continued as he extended his arm above Nagato's body and then activated a Space / Time technique that transported it away.

As he was done with what he originally came there to do, Tobi slowly faded away in the darkness.

"_Now that I have the **Rinnegan**, all that's left for me to do is to have Sasuke see things my way ..."_ Were his thoughts as he definitively left the tomb.

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><p><strong>Konohagakure – Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>Tsunade was not in a good mood, the council meeting she had this morning had revealed Danzo's involvement in several crimes committed over the years all around the Elemental Nations. The War Hawk was responsible for the desecration of the Shodaime Hokage's tomb, her own grandfather, for his twisted experiments. Taking a single look at his arm, she could already see the cripple's mark all over the Uchiha Clan's massacre too.<p>

She had to wonder if those were only the tip of the iceberg, did Danzo hide anything else beside the crap that was already revealed. This man or his organization was like a widespread cancer for Konohagakure, she knew that ROOT was everywhere, slowly eating away the Will of Fire that her family fought so hard to establish. However, the team that she had assigned to escort Danzo to the Interrogation Department had yet to report back.

Then there was Naruto, the young man was undoubtedly her best element out of all the shinobi she currently had under her command. She also knew that he was most likely even stronger than her, remembering the skills he showed during the battle in Iron Country. Mifune and the other Kage could also see it, that's why he was awarded with the position of Leader for the coalition. And yet lately he was totally unfocused, lost and detached from everything.

Tsunade was the only one in Konohagakure who knew about the source of Naruto's problems, the only ones outside the Leaf that also knew were Yugito Nii and Killer Bee, his fellow jinchuriki members. Naruto had told her one week ago when he came back from a training trip, that he succeeded in freeing his bijuu from the seal that held it captive.

The Kyuubi, or Natsuki as he called her, was a female and more importantly, she was his mate. How all of this could even be possible was beyond Tsunade, but all she knew was that he brought her to his home and refused to take any mission or even speak to his friends ever since he came back. The problem was that Natsuki was unconscious, Naruto was indeed able to give her a new body in the real world outside the seal but she had yet to wake up from the extraction.

Naturally Naruto had asked for her help to determine what was wrong with Natsuki, but Tsunade couldn't find anything wrong with the red head's health. No injuries or illness were found when she examined her, the only problem she found was the complete lack of chakra in Natsuki's body. Now Tsunade was nowhere close to people like Jiraiya or Naruto in terms of knowledge about fuinjutsu, so she had no way to know how the removal of the **Shiki Fuujin** influenced Natsuki's current chakra levels.

She was scheduled to visit the Namikaze compound twice everyday, just to make sure that everything was right. Naruto had decided to keep Natsuki's presence in Konoha a secret, so the safest place for her to be was right inside the Namikaze compound, where countless seals and defense mechanism were protecting her from unwanted guests.

Tsunade was about to call it a day and go visit her patient when she heard someone knock at her office's door. Her eyes widened when she saw Yuhi Kurenai walk in with said patient. Apparently the genjutsu Mistress was unaware as to who she was escorting through the village, seeing that she wasn't freaking out. Tsunade tried to remain calm, seeing that Kyuubi or Natsuki also seemed a bit clueless about the whole situation and how people would react to her if they knew her true identity.

"Hokage-sama, I found this woman in a Dango restaurant, she couldn't pay for her meal but she said something about being related to Naruto so I decided to bring her here to you." Kurenai reported to Tsunade.

"You did the right thing, Kurenai. Now dismissed, I need to talk to her in private." Tsunade replied, still trying to hide her emotions at being face to face with the Kyuubi.

Kurenai nodded and made her way out of the Hokage's office. She was a bit curious about the whole thing, seeing as she was the representative for Naruto and the Namikaze clan during council meeting but decided to ask questions for now, she may get answers from Naruto himself later.

As Kurenai went out of her office, Tsunade quickly went through hand signs and then completely sealed off the room. Natsuki remained perfectly silent during all this, carefully analyzing Tsunade's actions. She knew she could act all high and mighty anymore, at least not for the moment, since her chakra reserves were at best at an academic student's level.

"Natsuki ?" Tsunade cautiously started the conversation with the red haired woman.

"How do you know my name ?" Natsuki asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"You don't need to be suspicious of me, I've been told the whole story by Naruto himself." Tsunade said, trying to ease her guest.

It apparently worked, as soon as Natsuki heard the name Naruto, she relaxed her tensed body, a smile even appeared on her beautiful face.

"He did ? Where is he ?" Natsuki asked, relieved that she found someone she could talk to about Naruto.

"Relax, calm down please. Why don't you tell me the last thing you remember and then I'll fill you in about everything that's happened." Tsunade said as she motioned for Natsuki to take a seat and make herself comfortable.

Natsuki did as Tsunade said and sat down on a chair in front of the blonde Hokage. She then told her about her memories of the unsealing ritual, everything seemed to match what Naruto had already told her before.

"Alright, everything seems consistent with what Naruto reported. Now stay focused and don't interrupt me until I'm done please." Tsunade said, getting a nod of approval from Natsuki.

"You've been unconscious for a little more than a week since the unsealing. As far as I can tell, you are in a perfect shape. I found no evidence of injuries or illness with your body during the several check ups I performed on you through the last week. I still don't know why your chakra reserves are so low, considering how much you used to hold in the past. This is something you'll have to figure out with Naruto. That blond idiot went right to Sunagakure after the unsealing, trying and succeeding in stopping the Akatsuki from taking away the Kazekage. He then went back here and didn't leave your bedside ever since until this morning after he learned something apparently urgent enough to make him leave right in the middle of a damn council meeting." Tsunade said.

Natsuki relaxed when Tsunade finished her report about what had happened. Naruto was fine, up until this morning anyway. This was not lost on Tsunade, the blonde decided to take this opportunity to address another subject she found to be quite important.

"Okay, now that this is out of the way … There's something else I'd like to speak with you about." Tsunade calmly said.

"What do you want to talk about, Ba-chan ?" Natsuki replied with a smirk, not missing the twitch on Tsunade's eyebrows.

"Naruto is like a son to me, I'd like to know your intentions about him. I'm receiving dozens of marriage proposals for the Namikaze heir everyday, from noble and respectable parties, tell me why should I allow him to be with you, considering your history with Konohagakure ?" The blond said back, going into her "bitchy stepmother" mode.

"Okay, first of all what's between Naruto and me is our business. He is a clan head and doesn't have to consult with anyone in choosing who he wants to be with. That said, and since I know you're being honest and genuine on your feelings about protecting him, I'll answer your question anyway. Naruto is my soul mate, I may have been the one who taught him how to fight or think for himself, but he was the one who taught me how to love. All I knew before I met him was hate or indifference from both my previous hosts and any contact I previously shared with mankind. Now that I know about this feeling that is Love, I'm not about to let it go so easily. He proposed to me before we started the unsealing procedure and that was the happiest day in my very long life up until now." Replied the red head with determination.

Even though she tried to be strong and speak her mind, Natsuki was still unsure if this was the right way to answer Tsunade's question. She was actually Naruto's mother figure, as well as his boss, technically speaking. Furthermore, Natsuki knew that she stood no chance against an angered Tsunade at the moment, since she was basically at the level of an academy student while she sat in front of one the most, if not the most, powerful "human" woman in the entire Elemental Nations. She remained fearful of the blonde's reaction until said woman burst out laughing, tears in her eyes.

"Good, very good, you pass. I need a strong woman who can look and speak for herself to keep that idiot in line. I'm sure we'll get along just fine, Natsuki. Come along, I'll get you back to the Namikaze compound. We have much more to speak about and my work day is about over." Tsunade said.

"W-What is there left to talk about, Tsunade-sama ?" Natsuki replied, still disturbed by Tsunade's quick change of moods.

"Wedding plans of course ! This will be great, and call me Mother." Tsunade replied with enthusiasm while standing up from her desk and making her way to the door.

Natsuki's smirk matched the one on Tsunade's face as both women exited the office and made their way towards the Namikaze compound, already thinking about ways to spend the huge Namikaze funds.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – With Naruto and Konan<strong>

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><p>Naruto suddenly stood up from his position and started to stretch.<p>

"What's going on, Naruto ? Are you alright ?" Konan asked.

"It's been two hours now, it should be enough I think." Naruto replied.

"So what happens now ? How many people at the same time did you manage to transport with the **Hiraishin** jutsu before ?" Konan asked.

"Hmm, well you see ..." Naruto mumbled something that she couldn't understand.

"What did you say, I didn't quite hear you." Konan said.

"This will be the first time I'm attempting to bring someone else with me during a **Hiraishin **transportation over such a distance. I already moved with other people but it was always for short distances. I don't know what effects a lack of concentration will have on us in the middle of the intended jump." Naruto then admitted with a sigh.

"Don't worry, I believe in you just as Nagato and Jiraiya-sensei both believed in you. Let's get this over with." Konan said as she put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Okay, here goes ..." Naruto said as they both disappeared in a flash.

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><p><strong>Konohagakure – Namikaze Compound<strong>

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><p>Tsunade and Natsuki were back in the Namikaze manor, each one was busy with different matters.<p>

Tsunade was currently tasting the several samples of Sake and Vine, as she declared that it was her "responsibility" to select the perfect one for her son's wedding. Natsuki was going through a mountain of clothes that they both chose for her everyday life and the wedding.

The red head suddenly felt something strange happening to her hand, and when she looked at it her eyes widened as she finally remembered why she had a seal in the form of a ring just right there.

A white flash then illuminated the room where the two women were staying. As the light faded away Natsuki finally heard the sound of a familiar voice.

"Na-chan ?"

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Yeah, yeah evil me for stopping the chapter there. Well, still not an action packed chapter but we're getting there.

Naruto is finally back and Konan is alive, some fluff in perspective for the next chapter.

Little comedy moments between Tsunade and Natsuki, with the former assuming the step mom's role.

Took the liberty to set the tomb for Nagato and Yahiko under the city as I wasn't sure where it actually was.

What do you think Sasuke is up to ?

Read the next issue to find out and please Read and Review.

Getting close to the 700th review and 400k hits, see you guys soon :)


	50. Union and Separations

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Alright, most of you were pleased with the previous chapter and especially how Konan survived the fall of Amegakure. I know some wanted the village of Ame to be integrated inside the Alliance but having Konan survive while losing the city seemed like a good compromise. Furthermore, you will soon understand why that country needed to be a part of the Sasuke's lands. Just take a look at a Naruto world map and you may understand what I'm trying to have him do with his conquests and what would be his next target. This will be revealed in this chapter anyway.<p>

I am very pleased to publish the 50th chapter of this story. It's been a little more than three months since the first chapter was released, that's roughly 17 chapters written each month, not too shabby for a first time author. To "celebrate" this, the chapter will contain the first lemon scene I have ever written, hope it turns alright. I know it was always a "maybe" according to what I wrote in the summary but I feel this is something that I'd like to try, though I wouldn't expect another one any time soon. Give me some honest feedback on it please, I'd like to know your opinion about it.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 50 : Union and Separations<strong>

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><p><strong>Konohagakure – Namikaze Compound<strong>

"Naru-kun ?" The red head said in a low voice, as her beloved appeared after the flash that illuminated the room slowly died down.

Naruto gently put Konan down on a couch as she wasn't feeling very well after just traveling with the **Hiraishin**, on top of originally being injured during her fight against Sasuke. His eyes scanned the room and he finally noticed Natsuki starring at him. He was about to go to her but stopped half way, as he noticed the second person who was also present in the room prior to his arrival.

"Ba-chan, sober up. This kunoichi here, is Konan. You've already met her in the past, she was one of the three orphans Ero-sennin took care of during the last Great War. Even with the protection of her paper bloodline, she suffered from burns all over her body, so please help her." Naruto said as he saw Tsunade in a corner of the room, having empty sake and wine bottles all around her.

Tsunade's eyes widened as flashes of the past rushed through her mind, forcing her already tired brain to remember the scene where she met Konan, Nagato and Yahiko all those years ago, after losing that battle against Hanzo. Memories of a little girl handing her a flower bouquet that was made of paper finally clicked in her mind, as she saw the adult form of Konan and the same type of paper flower hanging in the kunoichi's hair.

"But, Jiraiya he said … They were supposed to all be dead ..." Mumbled the blonde woman, recalling her former teammate announcing the deaths of the three orphans.

"Many things happened, I promise to tell you everything later. Please help her first, she's a precious friend of mine and she was also quite precious to Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto pleaded.

The mention of the old pervert already convinced Tsunade, but hearing Naruto calling him sensei also made her realize how important this might be for the young man in front of her. She then decided to switch into her medic mode, taking a quick look at her newest patient before she prepared herself and Konan to **Shunshin** toward a proper facility to heal such wounds.

"Tomorrow 9 AM debriefing in my office, be on time. You will tell me everything in details and also, make sure to bring in your fiancee with you when you report in." Tsunade said with a smirk as she left with Konan.

Naruto heavily sighed as he knew tomorrow would be a very long day. He not only forgot to tell Tsunade about Konan's status as a former Akatsuki member, but also, he would have to face his mother figure while properly introducing Natsuki to her. The last thought made him turn his head towards the other occupant of the room who stayed silent during the entire conversation he had with Tsunade.

"Am I still dreaming, are we still inside the seal ?" Wondered the young man out loud as his eyes fell on Natsuki's form.

"You're not dreaming Naru-kun, I'm really here in the real world, with you." Replied Natsuki.

"I was so scared of losing you, after the unsealing, when you didn't wake up." Naruto told her, as he slowly closed the distance between them.

"I know, I could still hear the sound of your voice every time you spoke to me. It felt so strange, I was inside this body but I couldn't open my eyes, all I could feel was your presence and that's what guided me back to you." Natsuki replied with a smile as their bodies finally collided in a fierce hug.

"I've been dreaming of this moment since forever. I was truly happy with you when we were in the mindscape but this is different. To be able to feel the warmth of your body against mine when you're in my arms like this, that's everything I could ever wish for." Naruto said as they embraced each other.

"It's been such a long time since I could freely move in the real world, without a seal restricting my every action. The last time was when … when you were just born ... I took everything from you on that day." Natsuki said with regret and sadness in her eyes.

"It wasn't you, you were controlled by _that_ man. Our past may not be filled with fond memories to look back to, but nice things also happened to us, things that brought us together and I sure as hell don't regret anything. I didn't forget what I said during the night before the unsealing either, I wasn't fully prepared on that day, but now, this is the perfect time to give you this." Naruto said as he got on one knee in front of Natsuki.

The blond then unsealed a scroll from his coat and took out a ring from it. He then placed it on Natsuki's finger, right above the seal that served as a modified **Hiraishin** marker for him to reach her in emergency situations.

"This is a ring that belonged to my mother and every Uzumaki heiress before her, according to Jiji. It belongs to you now, my love." Naruto said as he gently kissed her on the lips.

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><p><strong>Lemon Scene, skip to the next bold line if you don't want to read it.<strong>

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><p>0604/2012 - Scene removed due to the site new policy concerning MA rated contents. This was basically a lemon scene between Naruto and Natsuki. Will be updated if policies change, since I still have the original version on my computer.

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><p><strong>End of Lemon<strong>

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><p>Two weeks went by and Naruto discovered a new type of "training" that kept him busy most of his time, locked inside the Namikaze compound with his future wife Natsuki.<p>

The visit to Tsunade's office was not a relaxing one, the blonde Hokage was less than pleased with his reckless actions concerning the way he stormed into Amegakure. At least he didn't try to take on this Tobi or Madara character by himself and instead prioritized the safety of his friend. Tsunade couldn't believe that the founder of the Uchiha clan may still be alive after all this time. Naruto told her what the man was after, the **Rinnegan**, legendary doujutsu from the Sage of Six Paths. He must have probably found it now, since Konan had to flee the city with Naruto during the siege from Oto.

This was another curved ball, with Konan being a former member of the Akatsuki group, it would most likely cause her problems from both inside or outside the village if that information was leaked out. Naruto took responsibility for his actions and used his right as a Clan Head to offer the origami kunoichi asylum within his own compound. Tsunade had successfully healed most of the burns on Konan's body and she was now living with Naruto and Natsuki inside his manor. The place was huge and it was the perfect hiding spot for her since no one except Naruto, Natsuki and Tsunade could enter without being invited in first.

Another concern was the disappearance of Danzo during his transfer to the ANBU interrogation department. The squad that was tasked to escort the War Hawk there was found dead and no evidence was left behind. The tracking unit that was sent after him came back with no lead after two days. The former Root leader was put in the Bingo book as an A-Ranked missing nin from Konoha with a very high bounty on him, dead or alive. The only positive thing that came out was that the council meetings were now a lot more effective, with everyone working together and not defending their own selfish desires.

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><p><strong>Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>Tsunade was currently going through her daily stack of paperwork when a chunin kunoichi from the communication department suddenly entered her office without knocking on her door. The Godaime was about to discipline the poor woman who just appeared inside her office when she noticed the concerned expression on the girl's face.<p>

"What is it ?" Asked Tsunade, clearly showing that she was annoyed with the rude entrance.

"Hokage-sama, emergency message from our outpost at the borders of River Country." The chunin said as she gave Tsunade a scroll.

The blonde quickly scanned the scroll and dropped it in shock at what she read inside. As the paper fell to the ground the following message could be read :

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><p>"<strong>Priority Transmission : Otogakure invading River Country. Still no contact with allied outpost of Sunagakure. Requesting further instructions."<strong>

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><p>Tsunade finally understood what was happening. In the single month it took for the Alliance to mobilize its forces, Otogakure, most likely allied to the remnants of the Akatsuki, took the first move. They had invaded every nations that stood between Rice and River Country, effectively cutting the Elemental Nations in two. Sunagakure and Iwagakure remained on the west side while Konohagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure were now on the east side. In the middle of them stood the now highly fortified borders of the Oto – Akatsuki's Alliance.<p>

These facts also brought a new light on the mystery that came with the sudden loss of contact with their historical ally, Sunagakure, nearly two weeks ago. Konoha and Suna always communicated on a weekly basis, sharing all kind of information from joint missions report to the newly developed cooperation about the educational system to bring up more effective students out of the academy. Ever since the Kage meeting took place, the five great shinobi villages started to communicate with each other again. Some more than others, receiving no update from Iwa wasn't noticed as fast as losing contact with Suna. Now, Tsunade could guess that every courier was being intercepted by their enemy before it could reach each side. She tried to think of a solution in contacting the other side without going in an all battle at the borders. Her eyes widened as she thought of the perfect candidate for a recon mission behind the enemy lines.

"Shizune ! Summon Naruto to my office immediately." Yelled the blonde woman at her assistant.

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><p><strong>Otogakure – Secret Lab<strong>

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><p>Sasuke slowly rose from his bed, a bandage covering his eyes.<p>

"The transplant was a success, Uchiha-sama." Kabuto said as he saw his leader wake up.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Naruto and Natsuki took a new step in their relationship. Give me opinions on the lemon scene, tried to not fall into the cliché with him being all knowing and getting more than the regular stuff. I didn't wanted to go too much into the detail either, giving size specifics for both Naruto or Natsuki.

Danzo managed to disappear while Konan is now a honorary member of the Namikaze household.

The true objective behind Otogakure's Blitzkrieg tactics has been revealed, the world is now divided in three parts as defined in this chapter.

I'll let you guess what kind of surgical transplant our Emo King just went through.

As usual please Read and Review.


	51. Crossing the Borders

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>According to the reviews for the previous chapter, the lemon scene was fairly well received. Felt realistic enough for the most part, Naruto not being a sex machine for his first intimate intercourse with Natsuki might have contributed to that. There are still some issues with the vocabulary I used, or lack of in this case. There's also the level of detail I should give to the physical description of the characters during said scene, should I mention the size of his "tool" or Natsuki's cup and so on. I guess it felt weird for me to mention those details when I wrote the chapter. Whether my writing style changes or not in the next lemon scene I'll write remains unknown for the time being.<p>

Now, about the question on Sasuke's surgical operation. Sadly no one found the good answer, and no, he didn't get a gender change surgery nor did he get Itachi's eyes. I'll leave it to your imagination for now, but no one gets a reward this time. Try to remain patient with the story though, as always, everything shall be revealed in due time.

Finally, I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned it somewhere along the previous chapters but the pairing is exclusively Naruto x Natsuki. I have no problem with Harem stories, just didn't want to write one for my first try. I don't think it was a bad call since I already experienced troubles in creating the one I'm working with. I may try a Harem in the next story I write, whenever that is.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 51 : Crossing Borders<strong>

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><p><strong>Namikaze Compound<strong>

The main gates of the Namikaze Compound made a loud sound as Naruto closed them, since neither the previous nor the current owner of the manor really used them that often. Minato and Naruto always preferred the use of the **Hiraishin** when they moved in or out of that place, the **Shunshin** being blocked by the numerous seals protecting the perimeter. The only exceptions were for the times when they had guests with them, they would walk through the doors, just like today, it seems.

Natsuki woke up from her bed when the she heard the noise outside the house and made her way to the living room. She greeted Konan when she arrived downstairs, the two women had become great friends ever since Naruto came back with the Angel of Amegakure from his last mission. Konan acted like an older sister for Naruto, something he always wanted when he was a child and no one was there for him.

The front door was suddenly opened, revealing Naruto with Kurenai, his former sensei from his genin days as a member of team 8. Much like Konan, Kurenai was more like an older sister to Naruto than simply his former teacher. That was the main reason why he chose her as his representative for the Council Meetings when he couldn't attend to them. She was also with the Sandaime and Tsunade the only person who knew about Natsuki's true identity.

"Kurenai-sensei, this is Konan, the woman we spoke about in the Hokage Office with Ba-chan." Naruto said as they entered the room.

"Naruto, I already told you to stop calling me sensei, it's really making me feel old that a young man like you would call me that. It's nice to meet you, Konan, please call me Kurenai." Replied the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha as Naruto was grinning from his spot.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kurenai." Konan said as she stood up from the couch and came to meet with Naruto's former teacher.

"And here is the love of my life, Natsuki, my fiancee. Technically, you already know each other but this is the first time you can meet face to face I guess." Naruto said as he moved next to his blushing red haired vixen.

It still amazed Kurenai that she was standing right in front of the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko, the most powerful demon to have ever walked the Earth. Not wanting to sound rude, she quickly regained her composure and greeted her student's future wife.

"It's nice to finally be able to speak with you face to face, Natsuki." Kurenai said with a smile.

"Likewise, Kurenai. You are one of the few in this village who has my respect, for being there for my Naru-kun when he was younger." Natsuki replied, smiling back.

"Alright, now that everyone is introduced, there are things we have to discuss." Naruto said, gaining the attention from the three women.

Naruto then explained the current situation in the Elemental Nations to the occupant of the room, from the fall of every minor Villages and Nations that weren't part of the Great Five to the current loss of contact with their allies from Sunagakure and Iwagakure. He also mentioned the very high probability of Akatsuki siding with Otogakure in this conflict and then pulled out a map of the Elemental Nations and showed it for everyone to really understand the situation. Allied territories and enemy ones were marked with different colors, making it easier to see where the problem was.

"Now that everyone is on the same page, I gathered you here to explain the action plan that was decided with Ba-chan." Naruto said as he finished his report.

"Our allies from Kumo and Kiri are sending reinforcements to us in order to fortify our positions along the borders we share with the enemy. Fortunately they were able to secure Yugakure and Shimogakure before Oto could reach those villages, we would have been really isolated otherwise." Naruto announced, getting understanding nods from his audience.

"That seems logical, Oto was racing against time with the goal to reach the other side of the line, River Country in the West, in order to separate us from Suna and Iwa. Yugakure and to a lesser extend Shimogakure in the East were not that much of a strategic position for them, so they concentrated their efforts to the West instead to cut our forces in half." Kurenai said as she looked at the map.

"That's correct, Kurenai. Now we have another issue, we have no information about what's happening behind the enemy's lines. Forces, resources or defenses, we know nothing from their current capabilities to stand up to us in this war other than they can move their troops pretty fast. That's the reason why a recon mission has been authorized, with two objectives. The first is to make contact with our allies from the West, and then for the Second, we are to infiltrate and assess the enemy's side and then report back to the Kage Council." Naruto added.

"Alright then, who's going to be on that recon mission Naruto ?" Konan asked.

"I was selected because of my ability to transport myself or others with the **Hiraishin**, it will definitely come in handy for that kind of mission. It is also my duty, as the Alliance's Leader to go help to Suna and Iwa, should they need it. Finally, as you ladies all know me, I'm not a sit back and look kind of Leader, so there was no way I'd sit this one out." Naruto replied with a grin while the three women chuckled at his answer.

"I'm guessing by my presence here that I'm also going, Naruto ?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes you are, Kurenai. Your genjutsu skills will be needed during the mission, I'm also quite fond of the art but I may need to use my chakra for something else this time." Naruto said and Kurenai nodded in understanding.

"Konan will be coming too, since she is the one with the most experience when it comes to Akatsuki and we may very well meet them along the way. The fact that we will infiltrate the enemy's line by going through Amegakure is another the reason why she is a very valuable asset to this mission. Finally, her bloodline will also be useful for camouflage purposes. We're leaving tomorrow at dawn, please pack equipments for a long term mission." Naruto said, getting another nod from the blue haired kunoichi.

An awkward silence then took over in the room as Natsuki was expecting Naruto to give her the role she would be playing in the upcoming mission. She narrowed her beautiful red eyes towards the blond.

"You've got to be kidding me ! There is no way I'm not taking part in that mission, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." Natsuki shouted as she understood Naruto's embarrassment.

"Please, Na-chan you have to understand. You're still recovering from the unsealing and we don't know if you'll ever regain the youki you lost during the procedure. All the techniques you knew were based on the use of youki ..." Naruto pleaded.

"Don't you dare Na-chan me. I'm the one who taught you everything you know, the one who gave you that bloodline you're so proud of ! Now you would leave me behind because I'm not strong enough to follow after you ?" Replied the red head, tears forming in her eyes.

Konan and Kurenai decided to leave the couple some privacy, the two women went into the kitchen where Konan started to make some tea for them while they waited for the storm to pass.

"You don't understand, the enemy still doesn't know that you're free. They won't go after you if you stay hidden, but if I take you with me they will notice and you will be in great danger from there. I can't allow that, I won't. You are the best thing that happened to me in my life, I won't be able to concentrate during the mission if I worry about you every single second. Please Na-chan, I'm trying to build a new world for us to live in, where we can raise children and have the family I've always dreamed of." Naruto said to her, closing the distance between them and giving her a gentle hug.

"C-Children ? You want to have children with me ?" That caused Natsuki to stop going berserk. In the thousands of years she had existed in the world, she never considered the possibility of having children. This wasn't something that she needed, not that she found anyone worthy of being her mate before Naruto.

"Of course, I mean if you want them too." Naruto replied as his mate started to kiss him.

"Fine, you're safe for this time. Now come, we still have "training" to do if we want to have children when the time comes." Natsuki whispered in his ears as she dragged him away, towards their room upstairs.

When they finished their tea, Konan and Kurenai wondered if everything went fine between Naruto and Natsuki, as they couldn't hear the red head scream anymore. Well, they would, if Naruto didn't activate the soundproofing seals in the master bedroom, not that it would be screams of an angered Natsuki though.

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Council Chamber, One day later<strong>

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><p>The Hidden Village in the Sand was on a high alert state, civilians were asked to remain in their home unless they had to deal with life threatening emergencies. Academy students were also sent back home, since their instructors were reassigned with more urgent matters for the Village's safety.<p>

The Kazekage, Gaara, was currently seated in the council chamber with his two counselors, Temari and Kankuro. Contrary to Konoha, the council in Suna didn't allow any civilians to take part in it, so the only people currently present in the room were highly qualified jonin or veteran elders that retired from active duty but could still participate in the administration of the village.

In the guest seats was none other than the new Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi herself, escorted by two of her ANBU officers.

"Still no words from our allies, Kazekage-dono ?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"I'm afraid so, Tsuchikage-dono. Our couriers must have been intercepted and it is suicidal to send any team across the enemy's lines right now." Gaara replied.

"I see, we also tried to send out our fastest messenger birds, but now I fear that they never reached their destination, seeing as we haven't heard from the other side yet. How are the preparations going on your end then ?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"We were under attack not that long ago, so mobilizing was not really an issue." Gaara replied.

"A good thing that we were able to secure the Hidden Stone Village before it was overrun by the enemy. Your quick response to our request was a decisive factor in that battle, we managed to stop their advance before they could further isolate us." Kurotsuchi added.

"Anyway, the borders of Wind Country are now secured. Are you done with your borders too ?" Gaara said.

"Yes we are, although it took more time than for you since we lost many men during the battle in Iron Country where that Akatsuki man tricked my grandfather." Kurotsuchi replied.

"Now, all we have to do is find a way to reach our allies from the other side ..." Gaara started to say.

"That won't be necessary." Called a new voice from the back of the room, immediately alerting every member of the council and their guests from Iwa.

"Identify yourself, unless you want to die in the next seconds." Gaara said as sand was already leaving his portable gourd.

"Man, your hospitality is starting to become legendary Gaara." Naruto said as he got out of the shadows, Kurenai and Konan closely following behind him.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – God's Tower<strong>

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><p>The rain was once again falling in Amegakure where the streets were now empty, as every civilian fled before Otogakure's troops could invade the city. Only the occasional patrols of Sound shinobi would now and then disturb the silence in the ghost town that Amegakure had become.<p>

Looking through the window was the new master of the city, Uchiha Sasuke in person. In the office behind him, stood his most powerful subordinates. Sakura, Kimimaro and Juugo stood in a corner of the room while Karin and Suigetsu were seating in front of Sasuke's desk.

The door suddenly opened, revealing the last two members, Kabuto and Guren coming in.

"Report." Sasuke simply said, as he turned back from the window to face the group. The people in the room gasped at the sight of his still bandaged eyes, all wondering what kind of eyes were covered by the bandages. The only one who knew about those eyes was the one who implanted them in their leader, Kabuto, and even then he wasn't sure of their origins.

"The transfer is now complete, our main base has been entirely relocated here in Ame. That includes the research center as well as the private hospital. Guren and I are the last of the main base to come here, I made sure of that." Kabuto spoke first before stepping back.

"The Hero's Water is now operational. I managed to counter its destructive secondary effects on the user but it will be 50% less effective than the original source in terms of chakra output. It is ready to be used on whoever you deem worthy enough." Sakura said next, waiting for a praise of the Uchiha heir that never came.

"The shinobi from the defeated armies that passed our screening process have all been incorporated into our ranks, as long as we don't harm their families they will obey your orders." Karin added from her position.

"The borders have been secured, from Rice to River Country, we have fortified camps and patrols are in place too. We also managed to intercept all of their messenger birds, they have no idea of what's going on the other side." Suigetsu finished the report.

"Kabuto, Sakura, I want the research center to immediately mass produce the new version of the Hero's Water. Guren, Karin, Juugo and Kimimaro will be responsible for its distribution to every available shinobi in our ranks. Suigetsu, you are to prepare spies for infiltration missions in Konoha, Suna and Iwa. Now, you all got your orders, dismissed." Sasuke said coldly as he turned back towards the window.

When everyone left, the Nidaime Otokage went back to his desk and sat down.

"What about you, report." He said, apparently to no one, as he was in a seemingly empty office.

"**The Ichibi is in still Suna, he has an interesting guest though."** Zetsu said as he slowly rose from the ground with his unique ability.

"Who is it ?" Sasuke asked back.

"**The Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi."** Zetsu replied as he took a seat in front of Sasuke's desk.

"What of the other three, What of Naruto Uzumaki ?" Sasuke asked again, really interested in Naruto's whereabouts ever since their meeting in Ame.

"**The Nibi and Hachibi have been sighted in Kumo but only briefly, I'm not sure of their current location. The Kyuubi is still as elusive as ever, I have no idea of his current location."** Zetsu reported.

"Very well, come with me. I have a mission that will require your unique abilities ..." Sasuke said as they both vanished from the room in a familiar phase shifting jutsu.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Pieces are starting to move on the chessboard as each side is trying to anticipate the other one's next move. Some short drama with Natsuki not being able to follow Naruto on his highly risky mission.

Finally some action for Kurenai-sensei, I'm sure that we all missed her. Konan will take part as well for her fans.

Sasuke has gathered his pawns as well, he is ready to send troops out of his territories too. Why are they now in Amegakure instead of Otogakure ? Why does Zetsu obey him like that, and what's the deal with his eyes ?

Read the next issues to find out :)

For the fans of action packed chapters, do not despair, it shall come back soon enough. Preparation and build up chapters are done, now place for the action.

As usual please Read and Review.


	52. Spy Games

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Reading the reviews I got, I didn't expect such a reaction about Sasuke's transplant surgery from the previous chapters. Well, there's really no point in spoiling it for you guys in an author note like this, so I'll just let you discover the truth about that mystery while reading the story. Hope this turns out okay, please don't turn all critical and throw classic manga material at me if it isn't exactly textbook, you're reading fanfiction after all.<p>

I may or may not have side pairings in the story, such as the Kiba x Hinata pair I had in the first chapters. They won't be developed though, as romance really isn't my forte and they won't have a great impact to the overall plot either. I would just mention them in a final chapter or epilogue, as a way to give more closure to the story when the time comes.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 52 : Spy Games<strong>

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><p><strong>Sunagakure – Council Chamber<strong>

The whole assembly was in shock and awe, as they saw Naruto stepping inside the room. It amazed Kurenai that her student could make such an impression in a room full of veteran fighters, the very elite of Suna no less. This also showed her that Konoha still had a long way to go though, in terms of acknowledgment towards Naruto regarding all the things he did for the Village. Even among the elite of Konoha, she knew there would always be those who fear and can't trust him, no matter how hard he works to protect them.

Something else became an issue as soon as Naruto's group appeared in the meeting room, the fact that he was escorted by Konan. She was someone they could clearly identify as an Akatsuki's agent, for her participation in the raid that aimed to kidnap their Kazekage, not that long ago. Even if the Angel of Ame didn't wear the famous black cloak with red clouds any longer, they still saw her as a threat, one that needs to be eliminated as soon as possible. Before things could get out of hands though, Naruto stepped up and tried to defuse the situation with something he knew would command respect.

"Kazekage-dono, Tsuchikage-dono and honorable council members of Sunagakure, I, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto hereby present myself in front of you, as the Shinobi Alliance's Sou Taicho. Escorting me, is Yuhi Kurenai, my former sensei and Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress. Also with me is Konan, honorary member of my clan and formerly known as the Angel of Amegakure. I mean no disrespect but there are things of great importance that I need to discuss privately with both the Kazekage and Tsuchikage." Naruto announced, making sure that everyone knew Konan was under his protection. He left no room for any argument, the moment he made use of his title of the Alliance's Leader, everyone knew only the vote of three Kage could cancel his decisions concerning Akatsuki related matters.

No one was foolish enough to challenge Naruto, after the blond made his request known. They all turned their head towards Gaara or Kurotsuchi, asking for instructions. No one wanted to cross the Kaze no Kami but they didn't want to leave their leaders alone either. Gaara shared a quick look with Kurotsuchi and they both nodded to each other, signaling for everyone in the room to leave.

"Actually, I would like for your bother and sister to remain with us, as they also fought against our enemies in the past." Naruto said, as Temari and Kankuro were leaving the conference room.

"Very well, jonin Temari and Kankuro shall stay for the remaining of this meeting." Gaara replied.

Once everyone left the room, Naruto sighed heavily and went to sit down. He was joined by Konan and Kurenai as Temari and Kankuro went back to their respective seats near Gaara. Kurotsuchi was left alone, as Naruto made her escort leave the room.

"Sorry about all this but the kind of things we're about to discuss can only be shared with those I fully trust. No offense for your people Gaara, or your escort Kurotsuchi but you were the only people in the room that had my trust." Naruto said visibly more relaxed than earlier, if the lack of honorifics he used for the Kazekage and Tsuchikage were any indication.

"That's alright, Naruto, even I can't be sure of everyone's loyalty nowadays. After what happened the first time Akatsuki attacked, I know we can't be too sure about those things, as far as Akatsuki is concerned." Gaara replied with a smile.

"He's right, you know. That masked man from Akatsuki could make Jiji do things he would have never even consider doing if he had all his mind. We can never be too cautious these days and I perfectly understand the need for discretion." Kurotsuchi added.

"Well, I really don't know how you guys do it all the time but I'm still not used to ordering people around like this. Anyway, this isn't a social call, things have gone from bad to worse since our last encounter." Naruto said.

Before anyone else could speak, Naruto also decided to bring up the issue of the identity from the man hiding behind the masked member of Akatsuki. They were shocked to learn that Uchiha Madara may still be alive after all this time, and the Uchiha Founder would be the one hiding behind that mask.

"Well, as we were saying before you arrived, we are completely surrounded by Otogakure and its allies. We still managed to keep contact with Iwagakure, thanks to a coordinated assault from our forces in Stone Country. Had we not reacted immediately like we did on that day, I fear that either Suna or Iwa would have already been defeated." Gaara reported.

"We had no way of contacting you guys on the other side, I'm positive that they intercepted every messenger bird we've already sent. Our borders are now secured and we may be able to hold them back should they decide to attack but I'm not quite sure of what their true intentions are. From the reports I have from our outposts, ever since they conquered River Country, all they did was fortify their borders and nothing else. We have no idea of what's going on behind their lines." Kurotsuchi added.

"Pretty much the same happened on our side, our allies from Kumo and Kiri managed to push back the enemy as they were trying to flank us by taking down Shimogakure and Yugakure. Fire Country is still the Nation that shares the most borders with the enemy, that's the reason why it is currently being fortified with reinforcements troops coming from both Kumo and Kiri. Tsunade is in charge of setting up our defenses on the other side with the cooperation of A and Mei. I was given the mission to check up on you guys and then infiltrate and assess our enemy's forces. I chose Kurenai and Konan since they are both Stealth experts and I trust them unconditionally." Naruto told them.

"Even so, going behind the enemy's lines right now is suicidal. They are expecting you, no doubt about it. Where do you even plan to check in the first place, their territories are now numerous and they may or may not have the local citizen's cooperation." Kurotsuchi asked, seeing many problems with Naruto's plan of infiltrating the enemy's lands.

"Our target is Ame, since it is strategically placed at the crossroad of the Elemental Nations. It shares borders with Iwa, Suna and even Konoha. Should we need to fall back during that mission, we would then have three options to do so. That's also the place I would advise to march against, once everyone is ready and I've determined that it is safe to proceed. The locals have already fled the scene under Konan's orders, before Oto started their invasion, so we're not at risk of having collateral casualties when the battle starts and Konan has a perfect knowledge of that village. Freeing Ame also ensures us a safe way to travel from the East side to the West one, I'm pretty sure that River Country wouldn't last long against us, when they are isolated from the rest of the territories under Otogakure's influence." Naruto explained the parameters of his mission and why Ame was chosen for their insertion point.

"I only see one flaw in your mission's plan, Naruto. No offense but if you managed to deduce all this, Amegakure being a strategic position to take over and all, then I think that it is safe to assume the enemy could also know of this. While I agree with you that taking back Ame should still be a priority objective for us, you would do well to not underestimate Uchiha Sasuke or his Akatsuki allies." Gaara warned Naruto.

"I know Gaara, thanks for your concern. However, this is something that needs to be done and I'm the one with the highest chance of survival for this type of mission. I've selected Kurenai and Konan because I knew it would increase the chance of success for this mission to have them with me." Naruto replied with a smile.

"Even so, we cannot allow you to take all the risks, Alliance's Leader or not. You won't be able to "flash" your way into Ame since you have no beacon in there, so taking Kurenai and Konan for their stealth ability and knowledge of the city to get in there the old fashion way was a good call. However, I know of a perfect way to increase the odds of success for your mission." Kurotsuchi said.

"Oh, and what do you have in mind, Tsuchikage-dono ?" Naruto said back with a smirk.

"We will stage a fake assault against Otogakure's lines at these two points." The Rock Princess replied while showing two spots on the map they had in the center of the room. The places she indicated were Takigakure in the north and Tanigakure in the south.

"I approve of this plan, this will force them to split their forces to avoid losing those villages. With those two diversions, your group should be able to sneak in easier. I'm sure Uchiha Sasuke will take the bait, he may even chose to lead one of the two groups that will go to defend their positions." Gaara said from his seat.

"Okay fine, this could work but do not take any unnecessary risk with those two fake attacks of yours, we still don't know much about their offensive powers. Anyway, now that we made sure that you're both fine, we will proceed with the second part of our mission." Naruto said before he stood up and went through a familiar series of hand signs.

"**Ninpo : Kuchiyose no Jutsu !"** He yelled as a small dragon came out.

"Keep this little one with you, he wont be easily intercepted by our enemies, so you can relay anything you want to Tsunade on the other side with him. Just make sure to also let her know that we finished the fist part of the assignment." Naruto told them as he handed Gaara his dragon summon.

The blond then walked towards Kurotsuchi and slowly took out a Hiraishin kunai from his vest before giving it to the brunette.

"I only used a temporary seal on you the last time we met, when I needed to use the **Hiraishin** before that Akatsuki member could reach you. Please accept this, as a sign of friendship between us. I trust that you will use it wisely, should you need my help at any time in the future." He said as she accepted the kunai.

"Thank you Naruto, I'll make sure to keep it safe so that it never falls into the wrong hands. It's a funny thing you know, I would have never believed it if someone had told me a year ago that I'd be standing in front of the Yondaime Hokage's son, and that he'd be willingly give me one of the famed Hiraishin kunai." Kurotsuchi said with a smile.

"Okay the diversion attacks will take place in two days, that leaves you some time before you have to infiltrate Amegakure." Gaara said as he stood up and joined them, staring at the map and thinking about the best way to execute their plan.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Detention Area<strong>

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><p>Sasuke and Zetsu were inside a small room with little to no lighting, staring at the fallen form of Danzo. The leader of Root was chained to a small bed, obviously unconscious, with lots of tubes going inside his body.<p>

Sasuke slowly reached for the bandages that covered his eyes and pulled them off. His eyes were closed for a moment, but when he opened them Zetsu could see an evolved version of the **Mangekyo Sharingan** flashing through the young Uchiha's eyes.

"**I see, so that's where you got those new eyes of yours. I was pretty sure you'd take Itachi's eyes but I guess I was wrong."** Zetsu said as he saw Sasuke making his way towards Danzo's bed, unaffected by his words.

"He gave me more than those eyes, thanks to Kabuto's truth serum. I've noted in here everything he knew about Konoha and the secret tunnels he took to get outside the village, undetected by their sensory barrier. I need you to infiltrate the Leaf and give me more information about their plans and that annoying jinchuriki of theirs." Sasuke told Zetsu as he handed him a folder.

"**Well, Madara did ask me to assist you so I guess I'll do it. I hope that those tunnels of yours do exist though, wouldn't want to face their Kaze no Kami if your plan fails."** Zetsu said as he took the folder.

If Itachi's name didn't annoy Sasuke that much anymore, the mention of Naruto's nickname did. He couldn't wait until the moment he could face the blond again, with his **Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan**.

"Not even Itachi could resist that special drug from Kabuto, you don't need to question my plan or those information. There are solid so you have no excuse for failing this mission, now leave me you are dismissed." Sasuke snapped at him. Zetsu then left without another word and Sasuke decided to get back to the Kage Tower or God's Tower as it was previously called, a fitting name for him, he thought.

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><p><strong>God's Tower<strong>

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><p>Once he got back to the tower, he was greeted with the presence of Suigetsu and a group of other jonin, waiting for him in front of his office. Suigetsu was happy and curious to finally see him without the bandages, but he left his questions about it for later, as they had more pressing matters to discuss first.<p>

"Sasuke, these are the jonin who will infiltrate the villages you mentioned in our previous meeting." Said the silver haired swordsman.

Sasuke was genuinely surprised that Suigetsu managed to get so many spies on such a short notice. They all wore regular clothes, with no headband to identify their respective villages of origin. He knew that many of them came from the Countries he had invaded in the last month, making their loyalty to him questionable. Hell, even those from Oto would betray him in a heartbeat if they didn't fear him or his elite staff so much. An idea suddenly crossed his mind as he looked at those men, then a smirk appeared on his face as he spoke to them.

"Gather them in the meeting room immediately, Suigetsu." Sasuke said as he entered his office.

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><p><strong>Meeting Room<strong>

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><p>Once Sasuke joined them in the conference room, they saw that he changed his clothes from his battle gears with the Uchiha crest in his back to Kage clothes. He chose the purple color for his attire, and his hat was hiding his eyes. The men were all standing in attention in front of him, with Suigetsu waiting on the side. Sasuke then slowly removed the hat, revealing his Sharingan in its <strong>Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan<strong> (**A/N :** Will be called **EMS** from now on.) form.

"Suigetsu, come to my side for a moment." Sasuke said, as Suigetsu came to stand at his side.

Once Suigetsu was out of his field of vision, Sasuke started gathering more chakra to his eyes before speaking again.

"You are now soldiers of Otogakure, your only purpose in life is to serve your village and its leader the Otokage, Uchiha Sasuke. You will obey any orders I give you without concern, your former lives are now over, you belong to the Uchiha Clan from now on. Do you understand me ?" Sasuke yelled. The men suddenly all bowed down and kneeled in front of him.

"**Hai ! Uchiha-sama !"** They all shouted in sync.

"Impressive, what did you do to them to make them so … docile ?" A perplexed Suigetsu asked Sasuke, suddenly really glad that the raven haired man ordered him to move out of the way just before launching whatever jutsu he just used.

"It's just a simple ability from those new eyes I got from an old man." Sasuke cryptically replied, remembering his last conversation with Danzo, as the drug was making the old War Hawk reveal all his dark secrets.

This made his realize he only got one of the culprit behind the massacre of his clan, the other members of the Elder Council were still at large and Konoha would be his next priority after them.

"Now that I know where their true allegiance lies, resume your mission and send them on their way to their respective targets." Sasuke said as he turned back and made his way towards his office.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Naruto and his escort made contact with the other side. They will have a good opportunity to get inside Ame when Gaara and Kurotsuchi launched those two fake attacks against Otogakure's borders.

On the other side, it is finally revealed where Sasuke got the magic eyes. I thought about leaving the issue unanswered for another chapter or two but that wouldn't be very nice of me now, would it ?

Consulted many sites and it has never been said that one needed the eyes of his brother to reach the **EMS**, just another Uchiha blooded individual would do. Sure the sibling aspect can help but it is not mandatory in my understanding of the process.

There was no way Sasuke would desecrate his brother's body, knowing how much Itachi "loved" him. I created an opportunity by having Danzo on the loose outside the Leaf with a bunch of **Sharingan** eyes at his disposal. Shisui's eyes are good for the Emo King's plans, as he lacks the loyalty of his new beloved citizens. I was very tempted to put a " All hail, Sasuke !" when he used his hypnotic eyes on the jonin spies. Cyber cookies to the one who guesses first where that scene comes from :)

I'm not sure if Danzo's version of Shisui's hypnotic idea implantation is a permanent one or not, I may create a permanent version for Sasuke if that's not the case, this is still under debate. Give me your thoughts on that.

Anyway as usual, please Read and Review.


	53. Discretion and Secrets

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Well, I'm glad no one expected dear old Danzo to be the one providing Sasuke with the eyes he needed in order to reach the EMS activation. Obviously, the <strong>Kotoamatsukami<strong>, was included in the pack. Now I know it isn't "exactly" like the one from canon manga, in my defense I did warn you that things would deviate from the classic manga material, not that it prevented some criticism about it.

Yes, EMS is the catalyst that I used to modify the specs for the **Kotoamatsukami**. No, there's no Shodaime cells implanted on Sasuke, and yes he got both eyes from Shisui, one from Danzo and one from Itachi. Both were exposed to Kabuto's drug, forcing the truth out of them and like I said, better take those eyes from a "stranger" responsible for the massacre of his clansmen than pluck out those from his own brother. Specifics about the jutsu range, power, duration, cooldown and so on will be revealed later by reading the story.

Another point is Sasuke's powers, yes I've made him stronger over the last chapters. I think I wrote in a different author note that I would be powering up the opposition for the final fights, in order to finish this story with an acceptable challenge for Naruto and his friends. Seriously, do you want to read a Godlike Naruto takes out an jonin level Sasuke, yeah didn't so. I do hate that character, the bashing never really ended on him, once an ass always an ass. Well, I may hate that character but I can still remain fair skill wise, try to not misunderstand the concept.

Finally, congratulations to **'****bartimaeus shubit****'** for being the first to have correctly guessed where the modified version of the **Kotoamatsukami** was inspired from. The answer is indeed Code Geass, that I sadly don't possess either. You got your cookie alright, enjoy :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 53 : Discretion and Secrets<strong>

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><p><strong>Sunagakure Desert – Borders with Amegakure<strong>

It had been two days since Naruto had that meeting with Gaara and Kurotsuchi in Sunagakure. As scheduled, Naruto with his escort, Kurenai and Konan, were slowly approaching the borders of Amegakure.

The group was hiding behind one of Kurenai's genjutsu, to avoid detection. They were running in a line with Kurenai in the middle, Naruto covered the back while Konan was leading them, as she knew the way to her former home. Looking at the two kunoichi, Naruto couldn't help but smirk, remembering the discussion they had just before they left Sunagakure.

It was right after the meeting, they had to wait for Gaara and Kurotsuchi to send out their troops for the diversion attacks. Since Konan couldn't wear the Akatsuki clothes anymore, she had decided to use the short break they had to go buy some new kunoichi clothes. Hearing her plan, Naruto offered to make her some customized equipment, just like the one he was wearing. It didn't take him very long as he was used to make or repair his own stuff. The only tricky part was the seals he was including in the clothes, like gravity or storage seals. Konan looked so great in those clothes that Kurenai asked for Naruto to make another set for her as well. (**A/N : **Picture the clothes Orihime is wearing when Aizen kidnapped her in Hueco Mundo.) Once done and fully equipped, the trio looked like they were members of some kind of an elite unit, with their matching clothes.

Back to the mission, Naruto was still running behind the two women but Konan suddenly stopped in her track, lifting her right hand in a fist, silently signaling them to stop their advance too.

"From now on we're crossing inside Amegakure's lands, reduce your chakra output to the limit and stay focused at all times." Said Konan, barely whispering to her team members.

Naruto nodded while Kurenai took out a soldier's pill and ate it, trying to recover the chakra she lost with the concealment jutsu she had used to cover their tracks ever since they started the mission.

"To get to the city, it would normally take us about one hour, but since we want to avoid detection and the patrols, we will have to take a small detour, extending the trip for another two hours to reach our destination." Konan added before taking off again, closely followed by Naruto and Kurenai.

True to her words, Naruto could feel the several ninja patrolling in the area. No one of note though, most likely those patrol squads were composed by chunin or special jonin at most but nothing higher than that so far.

After another two hours of constant running they finally arrived at their destination, just right outside the great city of Amegakure. It was still raining, in fact, ever since they left the borders of Wind Country, it never really stopped raining. Before going inside, Naruto took out a Hiraishin kunai and firmly planted it into the ground.

"Just a precaution, if we need to get the hell out of there, should they discover us." He said with a reassuring smile to the two women, before taking out two more of those kunai and giving them to his partners. They made no difficulty to accept the "gift", no harm done, if it reassures both them and Naruto.

"So how do we do this, any idea for the best entry point in the city Konan ?" Kurenai asked.

"We will have to go through the sewer of the village, that's the best way to avoid detection. The tunnels run deep under the city, I can guide us through them. They can really lead us pretty much everywhere we want to in the city, provided that the Uchiha didn't change things too much." Konan replied.

"Okay, that's a solid plan Konan. Lead the way, we'll be just right behind you." Naruto said.

They were about to move out of their hiding spot when they heard the loud sound of the city's gates slowly opening themselves. Two complete battalions of shinobi came out, all wearing Otogakure's headbands and fully equipped to go to war. Naruto could feel their chakra levels, they were stronger than those they came upon earlier, all jonin level. Soon after that, one battalion took the direction of the North while the second one went South.

"Seems like Gaara and Kurotsuchi are doing their part, those men are most likely sent out to support their defense lines. Everything is going as planned so far, we should move out as soon as possible too." Kurenai said.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot too, judging by the level and numbers of those men, this is most likely the new center of command for Otogakure." Naruto added with a smirk.

Once the shinobi left and the gates were closed again, Naruto's group took the direction of the city, going through the sewers.

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><p><strong>Underneath Amegakure<strong>

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><p>When they first entered the sewers, the stench was unbearable. Naruto had to use his wind abilities in order to create a small air bubble for them that would filter the foul smell that reigned all over the place. He was astonished that Konan knew her way through this whole maze, meaning that she had already been there in the past. He knew this was tied to her past, to the rough childhood that she, Nagato and Yahiko had, before they met the pervert and his team. He stopped himself from asking questions about it, since it might have been a sensitive subject for her. After another turn Konan suddenly stopped, facing a strange wall.<p>

"What is it, Konan ? Are we lost ?" Naruto asked her from behind.

"No, we're not. It's just that I know those tunnels like the back of my hand but this wall shouldn't be here." Konan replied with a frown.

"Then this means this is something new, most likely Sasuke build it after he took command of the city." Kurenai analyzed out loud.

"That's worth investigating then, if duck ass felt the need to build something new in this city that was already empty." Naruto said as he started to channel chakra to his legs in order to climb the wall. Once they reached the top, they found a small hatch that gave them access to the basement of the building.

* * *

><p><strong>Research Facility<strong>

* * *

><p>They arrived in what looked like a storage room, with lots of boxes and medical equipment.<p>

"This is definitely a new building, its design doesn't match what is usually done here in Ame." Konan spoke first.

"Judging by the familiar smell, we must be in some kind of hospital." Naruto added.

"Well they do have Sakura and Kabuto in their ranks, two highly qualified medic ninja, so that's not so surprising they would build some kind of research center, maybe to continue some of Orochimaru's projects." Kurenai concluded, remembering her friend Anko and the experiments she was subjected to when she was still the snake's apprentice.

"This is precisely what we've come here for, to find out what they've been hiding to us the whole time when we've been solely focusing our attention on Akatsuki." Naruto said, as he motioned for them to follow him outside the room.

Once they got out of the room, Naruto spoke again.

"Kurenai, you can drop the genjutsu on Konan and me for now. We'll split here, since we need to cover a lot of ground and there's only the three of us. You will remain here and search this place while Konan will go through the city since she knows it better than any of us. I will find what Sasuke is up to since I'm the only one with a genjutsu he can't see through, even with his **Sharingan**." Naruto said to his two partners.

"Alright, but please be careful Naruto. I know you are strong, but do not let it get to you. You may be an elite jonin just like me but I'll always see you as my student, so don't do anything crazy out there." Kurenai said to him.

"Copy that, Kurenai-sensei. The same goes for you two, if you come across something you can't deal with on your own, do not hesitate to use the kunai." Naruto replied with a smile, happy to know that Kurenai was worried for him.

The team members nodded to each other and then went their own way. Kurenai went further inside the research facility, cloaked behind her genjutsu. Konan turned her body into countless pieces of papers and flew them away, out of the building and throughout the city. Naruto used his wind genjutsu field and simply vanished from his spot.

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><p><strong>Kage Tower<strong>

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><p>Naruto more or less knew his way around the city, having already been there once when Sasuke and Tobi attacked Konan. He decided to check the Kage Tower, seeing that Sasuke was now the leader of the city, this would most likely be the place to find him.<p>

He easily entered inside the tower, taking advantage of the permanent traffic with the many shinobi going in and out. He just used his stealth to go along a squad that went in, that way he didn't need to touch any doors or window.

Going further inside the hall, he came across the meeting room and to his surprise, the Otokage himself was there. Sitting smugly on a throne, he was facing a group of approximately fifty jonin, hailing from every country he had conquered.

The door to the room was suddenly closed as Kabuto walked in and went to stand beside Sasuke. Naruto was alerted as soon as Sasuke activated his EMS, he immediately saw the difference in the eye pattern.

The same scene where Sasuke used the **Kotoamatsukami** on the people inside the room was played in front of Naruto's eyes. He saw the change in behavior in them before and after the jutsu was used. They were now nothing but soulless drones, void of any free will and bound to serve the tyrant that Uchiha Sasuke is. This made his blood boil, thinking about Sasuke using this jutsu against his friends. He also remembered the Sandaime Tsuchikage and how Kurotsuchi described the sudden change in attitude her grandfather went through. He doubted Sasuke was the one behind that, he would have never been able to foul the old man. This was most likely the work of that Tobi or Uchiha Madara, whatever his name is.

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><p><strong>Amegakure's Streets<strong>

* * *

><p>Konan managed to deploy her paper spies all over the city. They were small enough and did not emit enough chakra to be detected by anyone. The houses were now occupied by soldiers and every store had been sacked by the invaders.<p>

While her spies were exploring the city, Konan went to verify something she could not see for herself before today, the grave she had built for Nagato and Yahiko. True to her fears, Madara had found the tomb and he took Nagato's body. Fortunately, he wasn't interested in Yahiko so he left the former Deva Path's corpse alone. It brought tears to her beautiful eyes to see the tomb of her friends desecrated by that monster.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when one of her spies came across a strange gathering of Otogakure's shinobi. Konan left the graveyard and made her way to the spot where the spy was.

Konan arrived to see a pink haired kunoichi, seated behind a stand in the middle of the street with a full battalion of shinobi in front of her. Each of them went to the stand where the kunoichi was, to retrieve a small glass of blue water and then drink it.

She was no sensor ninja but Konan could feel the difference in power, from before and after each of the men drank the strange water that the kunoichi was distributing. They went from chunin to jonin chakra level almost instantly. One thing that struck her was the strange mood around them, one would expect at least some of them to discuss among themselves. The strange thing was that none of them spoke, everyone was silent and did nothing more than the others. They eyes were empty, she had the impression to watch puppets moving.

* * *

><p><strong>Research Center<strong>

* * *

><p>Kurenai was also going through her spying mission, inside the building that served as either a medical or research center. The rooms were all empty so far and she didn't see any staff working there either. She had expected to see Sakura, considering her training with Tsunade but so far she had the impression to be the only one there. She knew that the only reason why Sasuke took the young girl with him was for her medical knowledge, seeing how he never gave her any attention when they were younger.<p>

She continued her way through the building when something finally caught her attention. Not quite sure of what she was listening to, she made her way towards the room where she heard noise from. Aside from the continuous sound coming from inside the room she didn't hear anything else, so she decided to look inside. Taking out a kunai she slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

Her eyes widened at what or more accurately who she saw inside that room. In a large room, with lots of electronic devices were the bodies of Itachi, Danzo and a young boy she didn't recognize. What surprised her even more was that Itachi was still alive, apparently kept alive by all those machines around his bed. She couldn't understand why Sasuke kept either of them here, alive.

Kurenai went closer to the beds and started to look through the medical charts that were pined to each bed. Inside them were written the basic information of what each of them had been exposed to, which drug and the precise dosage. Comparing the notes, she found the presence of a certain "truth serum" in both case. She immediately understood what was really going on inside this room, at least for Itachi and Danzo.

Looking at the third bed, she tried to get information about the boy they were also keeping in that room by checking out his chart. Unfortunately, there was no name mentioned, the only thing she saw and understood was that he was artificially kept in an induced coma. Seeing no report about any kind of injury or illness, she knew that the boy was kept there against his will, but for what reason she didn't know.

Seeing that she couldn't take neither Itachi nor Danzo with her, not that she particularly wanted to save either of them, she decided to free the unnamed younger boy and bring him with her.

* * *

><p><strong>Basement – Sewer<strong>

* * *

><p>Kurenai made her way to the same place that they had entered the city through, only to find that Konan was already waiting for her there. The group had decided to gather there once the mission was over.<p>

Konan, quite surprised to see Kurenai with an extra luggage, asked the Genjutsu Mistress about the young boy on her back.

"I'll explain later, we have to get out of this place as soon as possible Konan." Kurenai stopped her before she could speak.

"Well, I have nothing against it but we still miss one person ..." Konan replied with a chuckle.

"Naruto ..." Kurenai sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>Meeting Room<strong>

* * *

><p>The blond was still in the meeting room, calmly listening to a conversation between Kabuto and Sasuke. He had to use all his will to not laugh at what he was hearing. Apparently, Kurotsuchi and Gaara did their job well, so well in fact in Gaara's case that the Kazekage managed to break through their lines in River Country.<p>

Naruto remembered their meeting, Gaara and Kurotsuchi were to lead their respective troops in order to create a diversion for Naruto and his group to get inside Ame. They were supposed to use hit and run attacks but Gaara seemingly saw an opening and pushed through.

Sasuke was mad, they were about to lose River Country. He stood up from his throne, went through hand signs and then summoned two creatures, a hawk and a snake.

"Fly to the north and deliver this to the commander of the troops there. Swim downstream and give this message to the commander of our troops in the south." He ordered his two summons.

The hawk flew away immediately but the snake strangely stood back, apparently looking into an open space of the meeting room. Sasuke was about to give him a piece of his mind for not listening to his orders when he saw the snake extend his tail, still in the same direction.

Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes widened when they both understood what was going on.

"_There's someone there !"_

"_Shit I forgot to mask my heat signature, that snake can feel my presence !"_

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><p><strong>Basement – Sewer<strong>

* * *

><p>"<strong>BOOM !"<strong> A large explosion was heard, all the way to Konan's and Kurenai's current position.

"Looks like Naruto failed to mask his presence ..." Konan said while Kurenai sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Well, mission complete … or not. Naruto's group managed to disclose lots of the secrets inside Amegakure's walls. What will they do from now on ?

Looks like Naruto is found by the enemy, will he try to fight them or will he flee ?

Read the next issue to find out.

As usual please read and review.


	54. Water against Wind

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Sorry for the late release, got pretty busy this week and I had no time at all to write this chapter. Not to worry though, I have every intention to finish this story, there will be no hiatus or any new story until this one is properly concluded.<p>

Alright, some interesting remarks from the reviews I got for the previous chapter. First, I never said anything about Itachi dying, well technically a neurologist would argue with me that with no brain activity, he's as good as dead. Anyway, I'll let you judge according to your own criteria whether Itachi is alive or not, in his current condition.

Second point, the fact that Kurenai didn't finish either of the two S-Ranked missing nin that are Itachi and Danzo, when she had the opportunity to. Gotta admit, it didn't even cross my mind for her to finish them off. I mean, would you go above what's asked of you in a S-Rank mission, if your action could risk exposing yourself and your teammates to the enemy. Anyway, fact is I still had something in store for the both of them, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Readers were positively surprised by the slip up from Naruto about the heat factor, making him detectable by that snake summon. Someone asked if Naruto could really mask his heat signature, should he need to. Well from a scientific point of view, this should be possible since he is after all a portable programmable fan. Don't know how to explain this, try to picture those little fan that cool down the temperature of your CPU in your computer or something like that.

Some of you thought Naruto should flee after being found out while others preferred to see him fight the duck ass. I'll let you guys read the chapter, in order to find out who was right or wrong about this then :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 54 : Water against Wind<strong>

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Kage Tower<strong>

The whole village could feel the ground shaking, as part of the Kage Tower was destroyed. The first ninja patrols arriving on site saw a huge hole at the base of the tower, from what must have been the meeting room, considering its location.

From the gaping hole, everyone could see a giant purple flaming arm extending outside. That was the **Susanoo**, one of Sasuke's **Sharingan** technique and apparently what caused that part of the building to collapse. The Oto shinobi were used to see that jutsu, with Sasuke using it so much lately for his conquests.

Sasuke immediately got out of the tower and looked around, trying to find his opponent with the help of his snake summon. Unfortunately for him, with the rain pouring down all around them, the temperature was not a good tracking system for him anymore.

Otogakure's shinobi were gathering all around the tower, wondering what was going on with their leader. Kabuto stood beside Sasuke and they were soon joined by Sakura and Suigetsu. Seeing that no one understood the situation and with Sasuke completely out of it, Kabuto decided to assume command.

"There was an intruder in the meeting room just now. He can mask his presence almost completely, but a summon creature was able to track him by his heat signature. He may have other accomplices with him, I want a full sweep of the entire city." The second in command said.

The Oto shinobi all went to follow Kabuto's orders while Sakura and Suigetsu remained with Kabuto and Sasuke. Said Uchiha was still scanning the area with his **EMS** activated, trying to find the intruder. He was about to give up and turn back towards the Kage Tower when his eyes caught something interesting.

In the middle of the street, there was a spot where the rain didn't properly reach the ground. While most wouldn't have noticed this, the **Sharingan** was able to catch the singularity. The Otokage immediately channeled more chakra to his eyes and dark flames suddenly appeared around the suspicious spot.

"I guess your eyes aren't that useless after all, Uchiha." Naruto said as he slowly revealed himself to Sasuke and his men. However, he was not where the Otokage was expecting him to be. In the spot where Sasuke directed his **Amaterasu**, now stood the burnt remains of whatever Naruto had used to substitute himself with.

"Dobe ! How dare you show yourself in front of me, inside my city no less." Sasuke replied in anger.

"Naruto ..." Sakura said with fear in her voice, remembering how strong her former classmate really is. She knew of their status of missing nin from the Leaf, there was no way she could defend herself against Naruto if they had to fight.

"_This is bad, Tobi isn't here like the last time. Sasuke will want to fight him, even if he loses everything and everyone around him in the process."_ Kabuto thought, as he started to analyze the different outcomes this situation could have.

"So you're Konoha's Kaze No Kami, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. I always imagined that you'd be taller than that. Anyway, this is your title as the Eighth Swordsman of Kiri that interest me. Sasuke, you promised me when I joined your cause that should we encounter one of them, I'd be allowed to pursue the Swordsmen of Kiri." Suigetsu said as he looked back towards Sasuke.

"Fine but don't you dare embarrass me, if you are to fight against him." Sasuke replied with a scowl. That was indeed the contract that bound them together, ever since the Uchiha heir took over Otogakure.

"I, Hozuki Suigetsu, challenge you Uzumaki Naruto to fight me. My brother, Mangetsu, was one of the Seven before his death." The silver haired kenjutsu fighter said as he walked towards Naruto and unsheathed the **Samehada**.

"Oh … So it was you who got Kisame's body, I always wondered who were the rats that scavenged the spoils of war. I assume Duck ass got his brother too, is he still alive ?" Naruto asked, knowing Sasuke was close enough to hear him. However, the Uchiha simply stood there and did nothing to attack him.

_"With all the audience around, I should probably just get the hell out of here as soon as possible. There is no way that Sasuke will simply hold back and let me fight this swordsman of his without interfering."_ Naruto thought, as he gazed upon Sasuke's group and the Sound shinobi that were gathering all around them.

He was about to use the **Hiraishin** to get away from there when Zabuza's words flashed through his mind. Even if it held no official meaning whatsoever, he still held the title of the Eighth Swordsman of Kiri. This was a position that entitled him to accept this challenge, against the younger sibling of a former member no less.

"_I just hope that Konan and Kurenai are fine. Well, they would have used the kunai if they were in trouble, so I guess that it's fine for now."_ The blond thought, as he sighed and unsealed his katana before making his way towards Suigetsu.

* * *

><p><strong>Naruto vs Suigetsu<strong>

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><p>The two swordsmen were now facing each other in the middle of the street, Naruto with his <strong>Shinso<strong> while Suigetsu had the **Samehada**. It was a strange sight, to see those two weapons that were the exact opposite of each other. **Shinso** was elegant, relatively short and compact while **Samehada** was rough, quite long and pretty large.

"I've been challenged by quite a lot of people during my shinobi career, sometimes as a shinobi of the Leaf, some other times as a jinchuriki or lately as the Alliance's leader but never as one of the Swordsmen of Kirigakure. Are you doing this in order to get promoted to be one of them ?" Naruto asked.

"Not at all, I'm merely interested in that sword of yours." Suigetsu replied.

"I'm ready so you can start whenever you are." Naruto told him.

Suigetsu was logically the first one to move, rushing towards Naruto in high speed and trying to cut the blond down with a vertical slash. Naruto easily blocked it with his own blade, before channeling wind chakra into it, in an attempt to damage his opponent's sword.

Unfortunately for Naruto, as soon as he started to infuse wind chakra into his blade, it was drained away by the **Samehada**. He could feel the sword absorbing his attack and cursed as he suddenly remembered that Kisame's sword had this particular ability to eat his opponent's chakra away.

"You're quite strong, to be able to wield such a heavy sword despite your body structure." Naruto said as he stepped back, creating some distance between them. He decided that close contact against this sword was dangerous for the moment, so he would have to try something else.

"This is nothing for me, I trained hard to be able to wield any kind of sword. Before his death, my brother Mangetsu had mastered all the Seven Swords of Kiri. There was a time when I also wished to join that group, however, my dream now is to collect all those blades and then master them as my brother once did." Suigetsu replied, as he prepared himself for another charge against his enemy.

"Right, I guess I'm done warming up. I hope for you that you can do better that that or this won't be a very long fight." Naruto said as he channeled more wind chakra around his body.

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><p><strong>With Konan and Kurenai<strong>

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><p>The two kunoichi were still waiting at the meeting point they had chosen before going into the city of Amegakure. They knew that Naruto was fighting someone above the surface but didn't understand why, their mission was only to infiltrate, observe and then report back.<p>

"Naruto should have been to escape at any moment of his choosing with the **Hiraishin**. Either someone found a way to prevent him from using it, or he simply chose to stay and fight whoever he is currently fighting." Konan analyzed the situation out loud.

"That blond idiot ! We don't have time for this. Konan, can you try to see what's going on up there and assist him if he needs it. I'll move out first, I must bring this boy back and none of us knows medical jutsu." Kurenai said as she moved out of their position with her charge.

"Very well, be careful on your way out. I'll leave one of my paper summon with you to guide you through the maze. Don't wait for us, I'm sure we'll be fine." Konan replied as she then went in the opposite direction, towards the surface.

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>Naruto took a familiar stance as Suigetsu charged towards his position. The blond had his blade pointed towards his opponent and charged wind chakra through it.<p>

"**Futon : Kaze Shinso !"** Naruto yelled as he launched his attack against Suigetsu.

The wind blade hit Suigetsu with deadly accuracy, piercing the silver haired swordsman right above his heart and stopping him in the middle of his run. Naruto was about to sheath his blade when something caught his eyes, the injury he inflicted wasn't leaking blood but some kind of water.

"You may be known throughout the world as the Wind God, but here inside the rain, I am the master of water manipulation." Suigetsu said as his body became transparent and he turned into water.

"**Mizu Bunshin** ?" Naruto wondered out loud as he saw his opponent turn into water. Something was strange though, he should have dispelled or something if he was a Bunshin. However, the one in front of him had just sustained a mortal injury and still stood in front of him as if it was nothing.

"That's not a Bunshin, this jutsu is called **Suika no Jutsu**. It allows me to liquefy any part of my body and while I'm in this state, no physical attack shall harm me. I can also do this." Suigetsu replied as his body dissolved into a puddle of water.

Naruto's superior battle instincts allowed him to narrowly avoid a sword thrust aimed at him from behind. He turned back in time to evade the **Samehada** and jumped back again, trying to keep his distance from Suigetsu. However, this didn't work as Suigetsu used the same jutsu again, appearing right behind Naruto's landing spot. Seeing no other choice, Naruto threw out several **Hiraishin** markers and instantly moved to them in a random pattern to avoid his opponent's trap.

"_How the hell does he move so fast, that's nowhere near the **Hiraishin** but still faster than my normal speed. It must be that rain that provides him with limitless water supply in order to use his water fusing jutsu."_ Naruto thought as he took advantage of the short recess he got from getting away with the **Hiraishin**.

Seeing his enemy advancing again, Naruto decided to get serious and unleashed his true powers. He called up a Kage Bunshin and went through his usual process to access his Ultimate Wind Mode.

"**Futon : ****Ten'i Muho no Kiwami ****!"** Naruto yelled as he unlocked his ultimate battle form. The wind violently picked up around him and pushed the charging Suigetsu and his water jutsu back.

"_This won't held him back for long, with the rain pouring down I'll be a sitting duck soon enough again. I don't have any lightning jutsu and my genjutsu won't work against him with the rain giving out my position so easily."_ Naruto analyzed in his mind and prepared a battle plan in order to defeat Suigetsu.

"You can't defeat me, as long as you are an absolute wind type, nothing you do can stop me." Suigetsu said as he appeared again behind Naruto.

With his real strength deployed, Naruto was more than ready this time and could feel his opponent's movements. He placed himself in a position that would allow him to sidestep the sword slash from Suigetsu, and used one of his more powerful attack.

"**Futon : ****Shin'Zou Hakai** **!"** Were the last words Suigetsu heard when Naruto placed both his palms above his chest. The result was an explosion of water all around Naruto as Suigetsu's upper body imploded under the blond's attack. Naruto did not drop his guard, he knew this was far from enough to stop his opponent. True to his prediction, Suigetsu appeared again from a water puddle not far from their last position.

"Very impressive, you are definitely the incarnation of the wind. That won't be enough though, with our new training and this infinite water supply, I can last as long as I need to, even against a jinchuriki like you." Suigetsu said, as he remembered how his chakra reserves went from jonin to Kage level with Sakura's version of the Hero's Water.

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><p><strong>With the Observers<strong>

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><p>As Suigetsu requested, no one from Otogakure's forces interfered with the fight. They all looked as one of their elite jonin was going at it with the famed Kaze no Kami. Some may dare to say those two were evenly matched.<p>

Sasuke watched as the fight went on, burning into his mind every move and attack pattern Naruto was using. Sure, he couldn't copy any of those moves but knowing how his enemy behaved himself in battle was already a good thing to know.

"Seems like Suigetsu is doing fine against Naruto-kun, how about that." Kabuto said with a smirk that was mirrored by Sasuke.

"You did good, Sakura. Your version of the Hero's Water will be a great asset in my war against the Alliance's armies." Sasuke said to Tsunade's former apprentice.

Sakura beamed under her leader's praises, not caring anymore about her actions and the repercussion they would have in the long run.

From a more distant position, Konan had managed to rise back to the surface and observed the fight from her position. She was worried for her adoptive younger brother but trusted his judgment. When she saw him smirk even after one of his attack failed once again, she smiled too, knowing that he most definitely had a plan in his mind.

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><p><strong>Back with Naruto<strong>

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><p>After another explosion, Naruto looked as Suigetsu's body slowly reformed from the surface of a nearby water puddle. They had moved quite a bit ever since the beginning of the fight, the traces of their battle quite visible all around the town. They were currently near a building in ruin that Naruto destroyed, in one of his several attempt to hit Suigetsu.<p>

"You are quite a stubborn one, aren't you ? Your attacks may be powerful, but they can't destroy me." Suigetsu taunted as he once again faced, unharmed, the blond. His smirk instantly disappeared as he saw Naruto smiling at his own failure.

"You are right where I wanted you to be, this is the part where you die now." Naruto calmly said as he called out his next move.

"**Futon : Kuroi Ana !" **Yelled Naruto as he extended his arm towards Suigetsu and formed his black hole jutsu right above the silver haired swordsman.

The wind increased violently in the area around the singularity, pulling everything into it. A large mass of water was absorbed inside the black hole, Suigetsu included. Instead of releasing his hold on the condensed mass, Naruto used his free hand to dispel a genjutsu he used in order to hide something among the ruins of the destroyed building they were close to.

The trapped form of Suigetsu inside the vortex saw the genjutsu slowly fading away, revealing a huge blue dragon hidden among the ruins. This was Hyorinmaru, the ice dragon that Naruto had placed there in preparation for his attack.

"**Futon : Some no Mai ..."** Naruto called out, as he pt both his hand to the ground under Suigetsu and channeled a column of wind chakra. Hyorinmaru then blasted away a huge gush of frozen air towards the wind column. **"... Tsukishiro !"** Naruto finished his combo attack with his Hyorinmaru, his ice dragon. The wind column instantly froze, creating a giant vertical ice block, with the trapped Suigetsu inside.

Naruto pulled out his katana again and prepared to deal the finishing blow to Suigetsu. He prepared a horizontal slash but as he started to move the sword, a giant purple creature blocked him, revealing Sasuke's **Susanoo**.

"So much for the honorable one-on-one duel ..."

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Some action after a long time, Naruto did fight, not against the one most of you expected him to but he fought anyway. I know I boosted a lot Suigetsu's fighting potential, the Hero's Water being the catalyst.

Point is, there is no such thing as an unstoppable jutsu, Naruto discovered one of his weakness during this fight. He won with his brain, not sheer skill. We'll see later how he intends to correct his flaws.

Of course Duck ass interfered, did you really expect him to sit idly on the sidelines ?

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

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><p><strong>Futon : Some no Mai, Tsukishiro<strong> , translates as First Dance, White Moon. This is Naruto's combo attack with his Ice Dragon, Hyorinmaru. Naruto creates a wind column and Hyorinmaru is in charge of freezing it. This is of course a reference to Rukia's Shikai power in Bleach that I do no possess either.


	55. Bloody Rain

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>According to the reviews, there are some concerns about Naruto "only" mastering one elemental family of ninjutsu. I kinda expected that reaction after his difficulties to win against the water type Suigetsu in the previous chapter. Unfortunately, learning a new affinity is not an option for several reasons.<p>

First, as the title of the story suggest, the point is to make him strong with only wind. It's kinda like Rock Lee and his goal to prove himself through taijutsu (even if he cannot do anything else due to his undeveloped chakra coils). I think I showed that with a bit of imagination, anything is possible with that particular element. It would be a nice challenge to do so with the other elements :)

Second point is that the story is now nearing its end, I don't think another training arc is expected at this point. Would be repetitive to you and to me, we have everything in place to properly conclude. This doesn't prevent me from bringing out new wind-based moves into Naruto's fights, the ice one from the previous chapter was pretty nicely received.

Got over the 800 reviews and 800 favorites with the previous chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, regular or occasional alike, this is a great source of motivation to know that my first attempt at writing a fanfiction went this far without me or you guys giving up on it half way.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 55 : Bloody Rain<strong>

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><p><strong>Amegakure, Center of the City<strong>

The ground shook as Naruto's blade was blocked by Sasuke's **Susanoo**, only a second before it could reach the pillar of ice that contained Suigetsu's body. Apparently the Otokage deemed his swordsman as someone he didn't want to lose. This actually surprised Naruto even more than the Uchiha blocking his sword.

Naruto suddenly felt a disturbance in the surface below his feet, as if someone was trying to attack him from there. Thanks to his superior reflexes and speed, he managed to avoid a chakra scalpel attack by Kabuto. The Second in command went underground in order to surprise the blond, unfortunately for him, Naruto was by far faster than any of them.

As he leaped backwards, keeping his distance from the dangerous leaders of Otogakure, Naruto felt a presence behind him. It was Sakura this time that tried her chance against him. Despite her lack of speed, the power she packed behind those punch of hers was not to be underestimated. Naruto knew that she was Tsunade's former apprentice, he immediately moved away and deflected her punch aside before jumping away towards a distant **Hiraishin** marker.

"Well, it looks like the party is over." He said as he reappeared after the flash.

Naruto closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then summoned one more **Hiraishin** marker. He slowly opened his eyes and quickly threw the kunai towards his closest opponent, Sakura. The kunoichi could not even blink, as he instantly appeared in front of her and knocked her out with a powerful punch to her stomach. She fell down to her knees, holding her stomach in pain before she lost consciousness. Her body simply laid there, on the wet ground as the rain continued to fall down all around the area.

The blond didn't spare her a second look as he caught his kunai mid-air, took her down and then went to his second target without looking back. He tried to repeat the process, targeting Kabuto this time. The Second in command saw him take Sakura down and prepared himself for the incoming attack. As Naruto's kunai approached from his position, Kabuto went through his own hand signs and used a low level wind jutsu to knock it away from him.

"Do you really think so lowly of me, you would try the same attack pattern against me that you just used against Sakura ?" Kabuto said with a smirk. He was surprised however, when he realized that he couldn't locate his opponent anywhere. Naruto did vanish after he launched the kunai, but he didn't flash to its new position, after Kabuto had pushed it away. Kabuto was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts, as he heard Sasuke screaming at him from far away.

The Otokage had seen the entire scene, Naruto did throw the kunai, but he never used his **Hiraishin** movement jutsu. He simply disappeared afterward, most likely using his unique genjutsu that even the **Sharingan** could not detect, under normal circumstances. Sasuke was the only one who could notice the discrete disturbance in the flow of the rain, right between Kabuto and Naruto as the later was stealthily advancing towards his unsuspecting target. Unfortunately, he was too late to warn Kabuto as he saw that Naruto already in striking range.

Naruto had indeed predicted that Kabuto wouldn't fall for the same trick he had previously used against Sakura. Consequently, he opted for a genjutsu approach instead, knowing that Sasuke was the only one on the battlefield who could trace his movements while he was hiding behind the **Kyouka Suigetsu** perfect hypnosis technique.

Kabuto had just finished his taunting attempt, yet failed to realize that Naruto was already in front of him. The silver haired medic was still smirking at his apparent success in preventing Naruto from getting closer to him, when he suddenly felt an excruciating pain spreading all over his body.

The wind violently picked up around him and his glasses were shattered. Naruto then slowly appeared out of thin air, just right behind him with his right hand extended and holding a katana whose blade was dripping with blood. Not even a split second later, a large and deep cut appeared over Kabuto's upper body, with his blood gushing out of there.

Naruto knew of his opponent's ability to regenerate his damaged cells, allowing him to prepare his body against such injuries. The blond made sure Kabuto wasn't expecting the hit, preventing the high speed regeneration jutsu to kick in.

Same as with Sakura, Kabuto fell to the ground and laid there unconscious and seriously injured as Naruto mercilessly moved on to his next target.

The many Oto shinobi that were still observing the scene had yet to move after witnessing Sakura being defeated by Naruto. After Kabuto fell however, they all suddenly reacted and groups of Oto jonin started to run towards the blond assaulter.

Naruto could feel them getting closer, so his hands flashed through hand signs again.

"**Futon : Hakugei !"** He yelled as a wind breeze left his hands and moved towards the groups of Oto jonin advancing towards his position.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he instantly recognized the jutsu that Naruto had just used against his troops. It was exactly the same one that the blond had launched, the last time they met here in Amegakure. The wind would first wash over his troops and most of them would inhale it, then Naruto would somehow take control of that wind and forcibly expel it out of their bodies, killing them all in the process. Without losing any additional time, Sasuke also went through hand signs.

"**Katon : Gokakyu no Jutsu !"** The Uchiha shouted, as a giant fireball left his mouth and flew between Naruto's technique and the group of jonin. The two jutsu collided and a huge flash was the result of it. Sasuke smirked, as he saw his fireball burning away Naruto's wind just before it could reach his men. Said shinobi had to stop their advance, as the collision from both jutsu created a burning hell in their path.

"Don't think I'll let you do as you please inside my city, Dobe. I've already seen that jutsu of yours once, so I won't let you use it again on my shinobi." Sasuke proudly said to Naruto.

The blond frowned for a second, thinking about his failed attempt to take out his enemies. He didn't really care about Sasuke's remark; it was more about correcting a flaw in his newest technique that preoccupied him. His doubts quickly vanished though, as he smirked again and spoke to Sasuke.

"Not bad, Sasuke. That was not bad at all, considering you only witnessed it once. I was genuinely surprised when you managed to counter my newest creation, however, I'd like to see you block this one now." Naruto replied as he started a new sequence of hand signs.

"**Futon : Hakuryu !"** Naruto yelled as he finished a slightly longer series of hand signs. This time, Sasuke was the one surprised as wind chakra rushed out of Naruto's hands again. However, instead of the linear and relatively slow breeze, came out a dragon shaped wind gust that took quick and random turns in the air before reaching its intended target.

Sasuke's men had yet to react, not being able to detect the mass of highly condensed wind chakra moving towards them in a complete random pattern. The Otokage was the only one with the eyes needed to see that flow of chakra, inexorably making its way to his unsuspecting men. They would inhale it without second thoughts, leading them to their deaths.

"Move back you ignorant fools, he's going to kill every last one of you !" Yelled the Otokage as his men continued to charge towards Naruto, unaware of the death trap set right in front of them.

By the time they could finally hear his warning, it was already too late as Naruto's jutsu hit them dead on. What followed was a scene that would forever haunt those that witnessed it. From the group of roughly fifty jonin that were charging against Naruto, every last one of them died, with their lungs or hearts exploding from within their chest cavities.

For a short moment, those who didn't have the courage to charge against Naruto witnessed what would cause that battle to later be recalled as the Battle of the Raining Blood.

"Now, where were we ..." Naruto said as he started to move again in Sasuke's direction. Seeing no other choice, Sasuke decided to use his trump card and cast the **Kotoamatsukami** against Naruto. He channeled chakra through his eyes and with the **EMS** activated he tried to launch his jutsu against the approaching blond.

Unfortunately for him, Naruto had once again anticipated his reaction and had both his eyes closed.

"You do know that I was in that room with you, right ? When you used that doujutsu of yours to turn those guys into your loyal zombie servants." Naruto said as he continued to advance, his eyes still closed.

"I don't need my eyes to defeat you." Naruto said. The blond knew his ultimate form would allow him to feel every movement made by his opponent. The raven haired leader was starting to feel a foreign feeling at the sight of the blond marching up to him, absolute fear. He had yet to move from his spot, still stunned by Naruto's announcement.

Said blond suddenly stopped though, still half way from reaching Sasuke. He turned his head back, open his eyes and without a second thought disappeared in a white flash.

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><p><strong>Remote building, With Konan<strong>

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><p>Naruto reappeared right beside Konan, who was watching his battle from a safe distance. He saw the <strong>Hiraishin<strong> marker he gave her before the mission, strongly implanted into the ground, but she, on the other hand, looked absolutely fine.

"Are you alright, Konan ? Why did you summon me ?" Naruto asked, trying to not sound too angered by the fact that he was just pulled away from giving Sasuke the beating of his life.

"Look around, Naruto, we need to immediately move out." Konan replied without looking back at him.

Naruto did as the kunoichi told him, he saw large numbers of Oto shinobi getting inside the city. They came from every direction, most likely alarmed by the huge pillar of ice that stood right in the middle of their city.

"Thanks for warning me, I was so focused on Sasuke and the others that I almost forgot about our mission. Where is Kurenai-sensei though ?" Naruto said with a smile for his adopted sister.

"She went ahead of us, now come, let's get out of here while we safely can. I'll explain everything to you on our way out." Konan replied as they moved back to the building they came from, when they infiltrated the city through the sewers.

"Let's pick up the pace, she left more than one hour ago. Well, she should be slowed down a bit by the package she's carrying." Konan said, as they left the surface of Ame and went back into the sewers.

"What package ? Why did she leave before us ?" Naruto asked as he followed behind Konan.

"I'm not quite sure myself ..."

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><p><strong>Amegakure, With Sasuke<strong>

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><p>Sasuke understood why Naruto suddenly left, as reinforcements arrived all over the area. Karin, Guren, Kimimaro and Juugo were back from their previous assignments and brought troops with them from the front lines.<p>

He seethed in anger as he looked around, his city was in ruin again and Naruto alone was the cause of that. He knew he still lacked the proper power in order to defeat the blond, even if they didn't actually got to fight each other.

Kimimaro and Juugo rushed to Sakura's position and took her body with them to the hospital. Karin went to Kabuto and tried to heal him with her unique bloodline. Guren was quite neutral to all this, she was working with them only because they had Yukimaru in custody.

Sasuke sighed as he started to use Katon chakra in order to melt the giant ice structure that Naruto and his dragon summon had created during their battle. Suigetsu would most likely be injured but nothing life threatening, his pride though, would take a serious hit for sure.

Once done, the Otokage made his way back to the Kage Tower, thinking about ways to get stronger.

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><p><strong>River Country – One Week Later<strong>

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><p>Naruto's group was now resting in River Country. Konan and Kurenai were currently resting in their own rooms in a hotel while Naruto went to discuss with Gaara.<p>

True to what he heard during his spying mission in Ame, Gaara had conquered this nation back with what were supposedly only hit and run assaults. The Kazekage told Naruto that he fought against Oto shinobi under the command of a young red haired woman, wearing glasses. She apparently had little to no experience in leading troops to war and he took advantage of that, managing to break through their defensive lines and forcing them to fall back towards Ame.

After their arrival, Naruto learned from Kurenai that Itachi and Danzo were Sasuke's prisoners. He also learned that she managed to sneak out a boy they kept there, in an artificial coma for whatever twisted reason she didn't know, but they would try to discover it, as soon as possible. Tsunade's expertise might be needed though, as the boy had yet to regain consciousness.

Then, Konan told him about the Hero's Water, and how they were increasing their army's power. Finally, Naruto told them about Sasuke's brainwashing jutsu and his fight against the Uchiha and his lieutenants Kabuto and Sakura.

"I see, that's most disturbing. Sasuke Uchiha managed to do all those things while we were trying to repel his armies." Gaara said after Naruto gave him the information about his spying mission.

"Yes, and he's definitely stronger than before. I didn't encounter any Akatsuki member during that mission though, we have unfortunately no idea what the last two members of that group are up to." Naruto replied.

"Anyway, good job on your mission. Kurotsuchi will arrive soon enough and we'll set out for Konoha immediately after her arrival. There are lots of things we need to discuss with the other members of the Alliance." Gaara said.

"Oh it's _Kurotsuchi_ now ? Whatever happened to Tsuchikage-dono, a bit familiar, aren't we ?" Naruto said with a smirk, not missing Gaara's embarrassed expression when he spoke.

"I-I don't see what you're talking about. This meeting is adjourned until Kuro- Tsuchikage-dono arrives." Gaara replied as he stood up and left the meeting room without looking back.

Naruto smiled at his red head friend's reaction, he couldn't help but think that Gaara had the worse luck, with his bijuu being a crazy uncooperative one. Maybe this new development was the start of something good for once in Gaara's life.

Thinking about Gaara's bijuu, Naruto realized how he missed Natsuki. They had to leave in such a hurry once Otogakure's invasion was announced that he couldn't properly say goodbye to his girlfriend. This also made him remember Bee and Yugito, he wondered how those two were doing on their end.

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><p><strong>Konoha – Hokage Office<strong>

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><p>Tsunade was sitting behind her desk, a glass of sake in her hand. She had a huge stack of paperwork to do but didn't care so much about it. She was dead worried about Naruto and his infiltration mission in Amegakure. Gaara had sent her an update, saying that Naruto came in Suna with Konan and Kurenai and then left for Ame to complete his mission but since then nothing. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the arrival of Shizune in her office.<p>

"Tsunade-sama, the Mizukage and Raikage have arrived with their escorts. They request a meeting with you immediately." The brunette reported to her master.

"Fine, bring them to my office. Also summon Natsuki to my office, she will be needed for that meeting too." Tsunade replied.

Shizune left immediately, not wanting to make two Kage waiting for her.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

The end of the spying mission with some Naruto versus Sasuke and his staff. How was the fight ? I know I may have made them too weak against Naruto but this was a necessity for one last thing I have in store before the final battle can start.

What is Akatsuki and Tobi/Madara up to ? Where the hell is Zetsu ?

Read the next issue to find out ...

Next time, the last Kage meeting before the final clash and some reunion with characters that were a bit left out up until now.

As usual please Read and Review.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu :<strong>

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><p><strong>Futon : Hakuryu<strong> , translates as the White Dragon. Upgraded version of the **Futon : Hakugei**. Instead of the large and unrefined mass of wind that slowly flies towards his enemies, Naruto uses a faster and controlled dragon shaped form. Other than that, same principle than the regular version, sends out highly charged wind chakra gust that is inhaled by the target(s) and control it to explode inside the target's body.


	56. Revelations

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Alright as many of you correctly guessed, the story is unfortunately coming to an end in a few more chapters. We are already in the final arc and I hope that most questions you have or had will be answered. I'm already working on the plot for another story after this one, nothing concrete for now, just some ideas put together.<p>

I read the reviews and I can understand that some of you were expecting one or more characters to die in the previous chapter. However, both Sakura and Kabuto have some unfinished business with other people than Naruto. They will meet their destiny soon enough though, once their part in the story is really over. A little bit more of patience, we're getting there :)

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 56 : Revelations<strong>

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><p><strong>Konohagakure – Council Chamber<strong>

The doors to the Council Chamber were slowly opened by two ANBU operatives as the Mizukage and Raikage entered with their escorts. Tsunade was already seated, waiting for them. A large table had been placed in the middle of the room with just enough seats for each Kage from the Alliance. Natsuki and Shizune were standing behind the Hokage, as per the protocol, only two people were allowed with each Kage during their meetings.

The Mizukage, Mei Terumi, was escorted by Zabuza and Chojuro, two members of the elite Swordsmen of Kirigakure. The Raikage, A, came with Yugito and Bee, the two jinchuriki of Kumogakure. Tsunade had chosen her assistant and student, Shizune, to stand with her for obvious reasons. Natsuki, however, didn't really understand her presence at this meeting. Despite her pride as the previous most powerful bijuu, she knew that nowadays she was nowhere near her past level.

"I welcome you in Konohagakure, Mizukage-dono, Raikage-dono. Please have a seat so we can start this meeting." Tsunade said as she stood up and motioned for her guests to sit down at the table.

A and Mei went to sit down, their bodyguards standing in attention behind them. Shizune and Natsuki did the same and stayed behind Tsunade when she sat down. The blonde Hokage then turned her head towards the ANBU that stood near the doors and signaled them to leave. Once they left and closed the doors behind them, Tsunade did a hand sign and the room was sealed from any outside interference.

"The room is now sealed, let us start this meeting then. Raikage-dono, would you start please ?" Tsunade said. A nodded to her and then stood up from his seat.

"Very well, as you all know we managed to push back an invasion attempt by Otogakure in the lands of Shimogakure and Yugakure. They were easily defeated in the first weeks of the war, the overall level of their fighters was at most chunin with a low number of jonin. We had no difficulties to force them back to Rice Country, having the advantages of both the numbers and the skill. However, when we reached their borders, we had to face much stronger and numerous forces on their end. It's been going on for a week now and they stopped our counterattack at the borders of Ta no Kuni where we are at a stalemate now." The Raikage reported and then sat down. Tsunade then turned to Mei who stood up and started her report.

"While our nation is still recovering from the civil war, when we received the reports from both Kumo and Konoha about the invasion from Oto, I immediately sent out troops to the front lines to offer assistance in any way they could. Konohagakure having a lot more ground to cover, most of our troops were sent here, in Hi no Kuni, in order to go strengthen the borders it shares with the enemy. We also noticed the rise in power of their troops in the last few days. One thing that I need to report is that they also seem to have the support of the troops from the lands they conquered. I find it highly suspicious and hope we will investigate this seriously." Mei finished her report and sat down too. Tsunade, being the host for this meeting chose to speak last and this was now her turn.

"Your reports are consistent with what we've witnessed on the battlefield as well against Oto so far. Ever since my former teammate Jiraiya perished, our spying system is far less efficient than it used to be. Every country that Oto invaded shares borders with Hi no Kuni, yet we weren't able to predict and react in time. I've already sent our best team of spies to investigate the enemy and assess the situation for our allies on the other side of the continent. Naruto is leading that team, two weeks ago I received a letter from the Kazekage stating that Naruto and his team made contact with them on the other side. I know that they left Suna shortly after that and went to proceed with their infiltration mission in Amegakure. They have yet to report back." Tsunade reported to the group before she sat back down too.

"That's most troubling, I hope everything is fine with Naruto-kun." Mei said, not noticing the glare she received from Natsuki when the former bijuu heard the suffix added to her future husband's name by the Mizukage.

"The brat is fine, believe me. There is not much in this world that can take him down, but I can try to dispatch another team to Ame if ..." Tsunade replied but was cut in the middle of her sentence by a new yet familiar voice.

"That won't be necessary, Hokage-dono." Gaara said as a blinding white flash erupted from inside the room. Natsuki felt her ring charging up with chakra and smirked as she knew what was happening in front of them. When the light disappeared, five more people were present in the meeting room.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Kage Tower<strong>

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><p>Sasuke was currently in his office, thinking about the events that took place in his city when Naruto attacked them. The blond had infiltrated his capitol, killed a bunch of his men and even managed to seriously wound two of his staff officers.<p>

Sakura was only knocked out with a punch to her gut, her recovery went fast and easy . Kabuto was up and running as soon as he regained consciousness, with his particular cell regeneration ability immediately kicking in. Suigetsu was the seriously wounded one, taking the combination attack of both Naruto and his Ice Dragon summon. The silver haired swordsman remained a long time in the giant block of ice, he had to use every bit of chakra he had left in order to stay alive in that frozen hell. Sasuke used his fire techniques to get him out but he had to be careful not to burn his own subordinate in the process.

All in all, that was a humiliation Sasuke could not tolerate. The city still held the traces of that battle against Naruto and their defeat against the blond. The worst part in this is that Sasuke did not react at all during the fight. All he did was cover up for Suigetsu, once the swordsman was at Naruto's mercy. Sasuke knew Naruto played with them and it made his blood boil.

The situation on the front lines was not good either. He got the news from Karin that they had lost River Country against the armies of the Alliance with Gaara leading them during that battle. His enemies had found a way to reconnect the Eastern and Western sides of the continent. The other borders still held though, with the addition of the converted troops and the use of Sakura's version of the Hero's Water.

Sasuke knew it was only a matter of time now, before the Alliance decides to launch a final assault against his lands with their combined forces. Now that they had lost River Country, they can time and coordinate their attack perfectly from every side of his borders. He could only do so much by himself, and the other side has shinobi like Naruto or Gaara in their ranks. Karin's example showed him the limits of his forces against superior foes.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the appearance of space time distortion inside his office. This wasn't the first time he witnessed that jutsu, yet it still amazed the young Uchiha leader. He was burning with jealousy, knowing Naruto also had his own space time ninjutsu. He forgot Naruto for a moment and tried to concentrate on the new arrival in his office for now.

"What are you doing here ? Tobi or Madara, whatever your real name is." Sasuke greeted his new guest.

"You are in a nice mood as usual, and here I thought I would pay a visit to my distant relative for a change." Tobi replied, with a chuckle.

"The powers you showed me are useful, but this is far from enough in order to defeat the Uzumaki. I demand you teach me that space time ninjutsu of yours, I need it if I want to have a chance to kill him." Sasuke announced to his masked visitor.

"Your eyes are still far too young to attempt using this jutsu. I may or may not teach you that jutsu once those eyes of yours mature to their final stage." Tobi replied in his usual tone, making the Otokage even more furious.

"Who are you ? Are you really Uchiha Madara, my ancestor, as that blue haired woman that used to work for you said ? I demand you take off that mask and face me so I can see your face." Sasuke asked.

"Shut up ! You only need to know that I'm a Uchiha like you. All will be revealed in time, for now though, stick to the plan and continue to defend the lands you conquered." Tobi replied, his voice was serious this time and Sasuke took a step back when the masked man snapped at him.

"I can't defend these lands against an attack of all my borders at the same time. I only have limited resources and many men will die defending the borders. Now that their conquered River Country back, that plan of yours to separate them in two failed, they will engage us with an organized army this time." Sasuke said.

"Will you stop whining for a moment ? You are an Uchiha, then act like it and not some scared genin that's going into battle for the first time in his life." Tobi said in anger.

"Even so, I'm only as good as the men I command. They have superior numbers and their top fighters are far more skilled than ours. This is something I learned the hard way in the fight against Naruto." Sasuke said with desperation in his voice.

"You don't need to concern yourself with casualties, I didn't exactly come here empty handed. Here, take him to your right hand man, I have a plan that will even the odds and solve your resource problem." Tobi said as he once again used his space time jutsu to bring someone else inside the room.

"Who is he and how capturing him solves anything on this end ?" Sasuke asked, curious about the package Tobi just delivered.

"You ask too many questions, plus you wouldn't understand even if I explained the situation to you. Just get me Kabuto and we'll start from there ..."

* * *

><p><strong>Konohagakure – Council Room<strong>

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><p>As the light from the <strong>Hiraishin<strong> slowly died down, Naruto, Konan and Kurenai appeared with the Kazekage and Tsuchikage in the meeting room.

"Naru-kun ! I've missed you so much." Natsuki said as she launched herself in her mate's arms. It was Mei, this time, that had her eyebrows twitching at the sight of the reuniting couple.

"You're finally back, you brat. I see you've brought some company with you too." Tsunade said with a smile when she saw the blond and his guests.

"Yes, we came here as soon as we could, thanks to Naruto." Gaara added, Kurotsuchi nodded after him.

"Before we go on with the meeting, there's something I would like to know. It's been on my mind ever since we started but now's a good time to ask I guess. Who is the woman with you, Hokage-dono and the one with you too Naruto. I'm somewhat familiar with Yuhi Kurenai, with her profile in the Bingo book but those two women are unknown to me. I would like to know their identity before we proceed." The Mizukage said from her seat.

There was a slight tension in the room as most already knew who Natsuki and Konan were but feared how the others who didn't would react. Gaara and Kurotsuchi were already familiar with Konan and her past as an Akatsuki agent. On the other side, A knew of Natsuki's existence, thanks to Bee and Yugito. Mei knew nothing of the two while Tsunade was the only Kage who knew them both. The blonde Hokage and host to all others stood up and was about to speak when Naruto decided to speak first.

"Please allow me to proceed, Hokage-sama." Naruto said, looking towards his leader. Tsunade nodded to him and sat back down.

"Thank you. I guess for the benefit of the Alliance, I shall be sincere with every person present in this room. I know each and every one of you personally and hope you will understand why some of the facts I will now reveal to you have been hidden until now." Naruto started, taking his time to look everyone in the eyes before continuing, even the escorts.

"First is Konan, who came with me. She is a former agent of the Akatsuki organization, she was in fact a member since its founding by my cousin Uzumaki Nagato, also known as Pein the apparent leader of that group." Naruto said as A and Mei were stunned to learn that someone from the Akatsuki was now working with them.

Naruto then told them of his fight against his cousin and how it ended. After that, he told them about Tobi or Madara and how he came to help Konan escape Amegakure. He concluded with her new status as a member of his clan and her participation in the last spying mission against Oto.

"I'm far from pleased to be informed so late of this, Naruto. The fact that you came here with Kazekage-dono and Tsuchikage-dono tells me they support your decision in granting amnesty to this kunoichi. You most likely have the backing of your Hokage too so nothing me, or Mizukage-dono would say at this point is useless but I would like to be informed of such development sooner the next time." A said from his seat while Mei remained neutral.

"I apologize for this and thank you both, for your understanding." Naruto replied while bowing his head down to the two Kage who didn't knew about Konan. The Raikage nodded and sat down while Mei stood up.

"Now, who's this woman Naruto-kun ?" She asked, looking at her fellow red head woman Natsuki. Tsunade and A both closed their eyes, already knowing the truth about Natsuki. Naruto grinned and scratch the back of his head before speaking again.

"She is Natsuki, my fiancee. However, you all know her for her other name, the Kyuubi no Yoko." Naruto calmly said. The audience was stunned, Gaara, Kurotsuchi, Mei and her bodyguards all looked at the vixen who smiled back at them.

"Is this a joke, Naruto ?" Gaara asked, regaining his composure.

"I assure you it's not, Kazekage-dono." A said. "Before you ask, yes, I was aware of her existence. The same more or less happened with Yugito here. It is my understanding that this happened during their training trip after our first Five Kage Meeting in Iron Country." He completed his answer.

"How is this possible and what do you mean 'more or less' ?" Kurotsuchi asked, curious about his choice of words. Seeing that her input would be needed, Yugito stepped in front of her Kage and with a nod he allowed her to speak.

"When Naruto trained with us, he offered to Bee and myself to go through what he called the 'unsealing'. I decided to go along with it while Bee refused, each of us having our reasons that I won't discuss here." Yugito said, gaining the audience's attention.

"Naruto went first, seeing that it was his idea and his method was still experimental. It obviously worked for him, as you can see the both of them as two separate people. When my turn came, it didn't work completely, because my seal didn't work like the one for Naruto. The result is this ..." Yugito said as she closed her eyes.

A few seconds later, when she reopened her eyes, instead of being black they were flaming blue. Her overall morphology changed to what she looked like when using her tailed state but without the chakra shroud.

"**Nice to meet you all, my name is Matatabi but you all know me better as the Nibi."** Yugito or whatever possessed her said.

"Incredible, is this procedure possible for Gaara too ?" Kurotsuchi asked, unaware of the several eyebrows that rose when the others in the room heard how she called the Kazekage.

"Unfortunately no, that is not possible. Shukaku or the Ichibi is a very uncooperative bijuu and this procedure only works on the basis that both bijuu and jinchuriki are cooperating with each other. I had to alter Gaara's seal in order to limit its influence on him in the past and that's unfortunately the only thing I can do." Naruto replied, with an sad smile for his friend.

"That's alright, thanks to Naruto's alteration of my seal I have a much better control of my powers and my bijuu can't influence me anymore. But what about you guys, what does this mean about Akatsuki and their goal to seal off your bijuu ?" Gaara said.

"It is still possible, but really complicated for them since now they have to gather both me and Natsuki for their sealing to work and all know that two targets are much harder to catch than a single one. This only applies to me though, you Gaara, Yugito and Bee are still single targets to them, not that they are aware of my special condition though." Naruto said with a smirk. Mei was about to ask another question when Matatabi and Natsuki suddenly flared their chakra.

"**Did you feel it, Natsuki ?"** The two tailed bijuu asked.

"Yes, that's _his_ power. How is that possible ?" Natsuki replied.

"What is it Na-chan ? Is something wrong ?" Naruto asked his mate, with concern in his voice.

"There's someone with the Mokuton affinity nearby, most likely a spy." The vixen replied. Tsunade's eyes widened, thinking about who was this mysterious person with her grandfather's powers.

"_Tenzo is still on a mission near the borders so it can't be him, he would never spy on a Kage meeting like this anyway. So who …"_

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

The two sides are preparing for the final clash. East and West are finally reunited. Loose ends are getting tied up.

Sasuke is panicking, what do you think Tobi brought him that, according to the masked man, can "turn" the tide in their favor ?

Finally, Natsuki and Matatabi are revealed to everyone. I went with the perfect symbiosis system between Yugito and her bijuu. If any of you watched Stargate SG-1, it's the same thing as the Tok'Ra. Each personality can freely express itself and the body is equally shared between the two. There only that little glow in the eyes that can differentiate the two of them.

One cookie to the one who guess who's the Alliance's meeting hijacker with Mokuton powers that Natsuki and Nibi felt at the end of the chapter :)


	57. Countermeasure

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Well, I didn't really expect such a reaction concerning the party crasher from the previous chapter. Some answers were quite funny, by their contents but mostly by the fact that their authors were one hundred percent sure they were right and that it was a too easy question. Anyway, the correct answer was Zetsu of course. He is after all the spy master from the Akatsuki, and more importantly, I specifically had Sasuke assign him that particular mission some chapters ago.<p>

Congratulations to '**erokitsune1**', who was the first to give a definite and correct answer to that question. A special mention to '**Uraharaisgod**' for accurately describing how Zetsu does possess the Mokuton affinity. I guess it is not common knowledge that Zetsu, or at least his white half, was created using cells from Hashirama Senju and plants as a medium. You can verify the validity of that information from (re)reading the manga chapter 545. I'll concede that the answer "The Shodaime Hokage's evil clone" wasn't that far from the truth, technically speaking :)

I'm pleased the unsealing results for Yugito were well received. When I asked your opinion about the unsealing, most of you wanted Bee to remain the same while the answers about Yugito were more nuanced. I came up with this hoping to please all, I thought the concept is original. I'm sure it could be used in a new story as a key point of a starting plot.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 57 : Countermeasure<strong>

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><p><strong>Konohagakure – Council Chamber<strong>

Without letting the audience digest the fact that bijuu, or whatever they now represent, can freely roam again amongst the living, Natsuki and Matatabi both jumped in front of their respective Kage and started to scan the room to detect the intruder's presence.

The red haired vixen had recovered a small portion of what used to be her limitless reserves of youki. However, the human body she had received from the unsealing prevented her from getting more than one tail worth of her former power. As such, she only had enough power to activate the opening state of the Wind bloodline she gave to Naruto. This was no small feat though, as the **Muga no Kyouchi** gave her enough power to easily rival any Kage currently seated inside that room.

Matatabi used her enhanced physical senses to scan the room, having the body of a fully matured jinchuriki had its advantages in this sort of situation. Channeling youki to her eyes and nose, the blue eyed version of Yugito didn't take too long to locate the spy. It seems the intruder didn't really care about exposure as Natsuki also found him quite easily.

"There / **Here !"** They both yelled as they leaped toward the center of the room and punched the surface of the ground. The destruction caused Zetsu to appear from underneath the meeting room, right in front of the most powerful shinobi and kunoichi in the entire Elemental Nations.

"You again, I should have know it was you the moment they spoke about my grandfather's kekkei genkai." Tsunade roared from her position, ready to jump in and snap his neck.

She was too late though, as a white flash suddenly irrupted in the room and Naruto disappeared form his original spot, only to instantly reappear on the other side of the room with his katana unsheathed. All the occupants of the room could only blink, as Zetsu's body in the middle of the room slowly fell to the ground, headless.

"Don't bother, it's just a clone of his. I was careless, I should have known they would have spies in every major villages from the Alliance … Damn it !" Naruto snapped as he put his sword away and went through hand signs then threw four pieces of paper to the corners of the room. The four seals glowed for a short moment and then faded away.

"I'm sorry everyone, I should have verify the room myself before revealing those sensitive information. Now our enemy knows about Natsuki and we lost an important edge over them. I've sealed the room again but I fear there is no much more to hide anymore ..." Naruto reported, bowing his head down.

"You're too hard on yourself, Gaki. There are five Kage in this room, none of us thought about that." A said, getting nods of approval from all the other leaders in the room.

"Raikage-dono is right, Naruto. We were already discussing some pretty important stuff in here with him and Mizukage-dono before you arrived so I should be the one held responsible for this room's security system. Anyway, what's done is done, we don't have time to lose over this issue, let's just move on." Tsunade added and Naruto accepted her terms.

Everyone returned to their respective seats and Naruto was invited to sit down with the Kage as the Alliance's leader. Natsuki chose to stay behind him with Konan while Kurenai decided to go stand behind Tsunade. Once everyone was ready to continue, Gaara was the first one to speak.

"Our first priority is to restore stability to every area in the Elemental Nations. To achieve this, we must eliminate the threat that Otogakure represents. With the recent conquest of River Country, we have an opportunity to organize a large scale joint attack against them." The Kazekage said.

"Before such an assault can be considered, there are some new developments that need to be known to this council." Naruto said. The blond then told them about Sasuke's new hypnotic doujutsu and how he enhanced his army's power with the Hero's Water.

Tsunade was highly disappointed when she learned of Sakura's involvement in the creation of the modified Hero's Water. The blonde Hokage would have never imagined her teachings would be used in such a way, for the ambitions of a mad Uchiha boy.

"Hokage-dono, is there anything you can tell us about that jutsu of his, since not all of us have the ability to fight with our eyes closed like Naruto. We foreigners have diverse levels of understanding about Konoha's **Sharingan**, so it would be great if you could provide us with everything you can on how to counter it." Kurotsuchi said, still remembering she owed it to her grandfather to kill the bastard who used that jutsu against him.

"I am a master in the knowledge of how to treat physical wounds, however, for the mental attacks I will have to consult with our expert, the Yamanaka clan head. The Hyuga clan head could also help us in finding ways to fight against the **Sharingan**. Shizune, can you go summon them both." Tsunade replied, to which her assistant immediately reacted and went to do as ordered.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Kage Office<strong>

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><p>Uchiha Sasuke was currently going through the bane of all Kage, paperwork. Every damn action in the shinobi world seemed to generate more paperwork for him to fill out. The reports he received from the front lines were not good, not good at all.<p>

The loss of River Country was a huge setback in his plans, it was a loss Oto really didn't need at the moment. Amegakure was supposed to be the ideal place for his capitol, as he could strike three of the five great villages from here. The only problem was that he needed River Country to be under his command to separate the westerners from Konoha. He knew it was his mistake to have placed Karin at the top of that region, that woman was more of a support type, not really suited for the front line.

Of course, failure was not an option in his army. He had to make an example out of her, in order to dissuade the others from failing him in the future. He couldn't exactly order her death, the bloodline she had was a really useful one and saved his life once in the past. All he could do was to demote her from any commanding duties, she remained a soldier for him, barely above civilian level. The fierce red head didn't take the news really well, but chose to remain silent for the moment as she knew the Otokage was in a really foul mood lately.

The young leader was pulled out of his thoughts by the arrival of his second in command in his office. Kabuto came in with his usual smirk on his face and waited for Sasuke to acknowledge his presence.

"What is it, Kabuto ? This better be good news, because I'm sick of reading reports on how the enemies are pushing us back further inside our lands." The raven haired Kage said, not even looking at him.

"I believe that what I have to report will please you, in regards to those news from the front lines." Kabuto replied, still grinning.

"Do not test my patience, not now." Sasuke snapped, not in the mood for Kabuto's cryptic words.

"Very well, the package Tobi delivered to us has been successfully integrated in the Omega Project we were working on. Production is in progress and you can expect the first batch to come out in the next few days." Kabuto reported.

"Excellent, at least we will finally have enough firepower to hold them back and even push forward again with this. How many of those will be ready by the end of the next week ?" Sasuke said, satisfied with Kabuto's report so far.

"By that time, at least 50,000 will be ready for you to use them. Shall I proceed with the chakra enhancement phase as well ?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes, I want them to be the strongest they can, before sending them out on the field. We can't allow the enemy to react before it is already to late for them to. Do what you have to do but I want them all ready for the end of next week." Sasuke said, leaving no room for a negotiation.

"It shall be done, Uchiha-sama." Kabuto replied.

"What of the other project I've assigned to you, Kabuto ? Is it operational yet ?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, the device is ready to be tested. I can't believe you thought of that while going through the stuff Hanzo the Salamander left behind. It wasn't really a hard task to adapt it to match our needs, however, we will need a live test to make sure that it's definitely operational." Kabuto answered.

"I don't care for the details, send out an entire battalion with it if you need to but I want results." Sasuke snapped, visibly really wanting this project to work out.

"As you command, I shall dispatch a small unit equipped with the device towards Konoha to verify its efficiency. I know the perfect person to lead that mission, it will be her chance to gain back the respect she lost or simply disappear for good." Kabuto replied, bowing to his leader before leaving the room to do as ordered. He made it back to the building's hall and then he called out a random jonin on his way out.

"Summon Karin to my office. Oh and tell her that I need her to gather a team and then report back to me as soon as possible." The silver haired scientist said. The jonin nodded and then disappeared in a puff of smoke as he left.

"_I'm pretty sure Karin will fail again, we just need someone to watch them from a safe distance and confirm the device's efficiency. Now, who should I pick to follow them ..."_ Kabuto thought as he returned to his office, located in the research center of the city.

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><p><strong>Konohagakure – Namikaze Compound<strong>

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><p>It had been a day since Naruto made it back to the village with Konan and Kurenai. The blond was currently resting in his bed, completely naked with his red haired mate laying right on top of him. They had celebrated their reunion and Naruto's return through the night, with the appropriate silencing seals placed all around the room, in order to not bother Konan and the numerous other guests that were currently staying with them at the Namikaze Compound.<p>

The meeting was stopped yesterday since it was getting late and was to resume today in the morning. Naruto offered hospitality to all the Kage and their followers since he had loads of empty space in his family home. He remembered teasing Gaara and Kurotsuchi again, when he asked them if they wanted to share a room. He had to dodge a mix of lava and sand projectiles aimed at him, but it was worth it seeing Gaara's embarrassed face.

It was still six o'clock in the morning, but Naruto had taken the habit of getting up early and train everyday ever since his training days with Jiraiya. He slowly got out of bed and went through his morning ritual. Once done, he flashed out of the manor.

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><p><strong>Training Ground 8<strong>

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><p>Naruto instantly reappeared in the center of his old team's training ground. He could have used his own training ground, but didn't want to wake up his guests. He wondered if Tsunade had reassigned a new squad for team 8, since he was now a jonin while Kiba and Hinata were both chunin. Leaving those thoughts aside, the blond started to warm up.<p>

Two hours went by before Naruto decided to take a break. He was currently seated under a tree, his ultimate wind form activated and his sword by his side. All his senses were amplified by his bloodline, that's what allowed him to evade a series of kunai that went to impale themselves just were his head was, only a second ago.

The blond stood up instantly and scanned his surroundings in order to locate the aggressor. Naruto closed his eyes and focused chakra through his ears and nose, trying to pinpoint the exact location of his enemy inside the forest area of training ground eight.

"_One, two, three … No wait there's another one barely emitting any chakra a little further away from the other three. Now to get all of them at once ..."_ Naruto processed the information before going through hand signs.

"**Futon : Hakuryu !"** He said as he launched his latest creation towards his enemies. The white dragon traveled at great speed towards the four targets that had yet to move from their spot. Once it reached its first target, the enemy shinobi moved away at the last moment in order to avoid being sliced apart by Naruto's jutsu.

Naruto waited a moment, letting his two-step jutsu take effect, before he tried to reverse the pull and forcibly kill those four targets by manipulating the wind within their lungs. Hearing no signs of explosion, he wondered how or why his jutsu failed. This was a first, he couldn't let this go without reacting. He immediately jumped high in the air and took out two Hiraishin kunai in each hand before throwing them towards his opponents.

It was over before they could even register the strange kunai that fell near them. In a white flash, their target was already behind them with his sword drawn out, dripping with their blood. Karin felt the wind passing over her body as well as Naruto appeared right behind her with his katana ready to cut her head off, as he did with the three other jonin she had under her command for this mission.

"_What the hell, those kunai Kabuto gave us were supposed to cancel his wind abilities if we managed to throw them near him. Why is this not working damn it, damn that white haired freak."_ Karin thought as she used her sensor ability, only to see that Naruto wasn't incapacitated in any way.

The sound of the three headless bodies falling to the ground was heard all around them as Naruto pressed his blade against Karin's neck.

"Interesting, so that's how you guys managed to repel my powers. I have to admit that it's quite ingenious of whoever thought of this." Naruto said as he took a better look at his enemies, noticing that they all wore some kind of a mask that prevented them from breathing in his wind chakra. He forcibly removed Karin's mask and went to stand before her, still holding his blade against her jugular. He somehow knew she was a woman before taking off her mask, but her long red hair surprised him, making him remember a photo of his mother he saw back at the compound.

"Who are you ?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not saying anything to you, Konoha monster !" Karin yelled back. Before she could continue, Naruto slowly moved his sword and drew blood from her neck, making her understand how serious he was.

"Why did Sasuke sent you here on a suicide mission ?" He said in a very serious tone.

"W-What are you talking about ? We were sent here to eliminate you with the special wind suppressor kunai Kabuto developed." The red haired kunoichi answered.

"Now that's weird, no one except for me knows how my wind powers really work. However, those masks of yours, those are what he really wanted to test and to do that you needed to come close to me. I guess you weren't aware of the true parameters of your mission, so you're unfortunately not really of any use to me ..." Naruto said before he knocked her out, using the back of his sword.

Naruto deactivated his bloodline and went to seal the bodies of the three dead jonin he just killed before making his way to the Hokage tower with his unconscious captive.

Once Naruto was gone, a shadow slowly appeared from a tall tree near the place where the fight just took place. Zetsu rose from the tree and looked at the aftermath of the battle. He had once again witnessed everything and no one except for those bijuu could detect him. His task done, he slowly disappeared again, having loads of info to report to his allies.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

Naruto's side lost the advantage of surprise about Natsuki being freed from the seal and Yugito transforming into a hybrid with Matatabi.

Each side is trying to counter the other side's strongest moves and apparently Oto found a way to counter Naruto's new move with a derivative from the mask Hanzo used to wear in battle.

Let's see how the Alliance plan to fight against the **Kotoamatsukami** and those who are already under its effect.

What will happen to Karin ?

What are those things Oto is producing in large quantities ?

Read the next issue to find out. Next time is all out war.

As usual please read and review.


	58. The Last War

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Here we go for another chapter of your favorite blond Wind God's adventures and, as the title suggests, we're getting right into the battle that will give its final shape to the Elemental Nations. You may or may not enjoy the way I'll configure the different pieces on the chessboard, but try to be patient and remember that not everything has to be the same as in the real manga.<p>

I'm sorry if chapters aren't coming out as regularly as they used to in the past but, as every author, I do have a life outside from this and it's been quite a busy one lately. Still, I believe it's still a pretty decent frequency of releases, compared to some of the stories I'm following. Anyway, this project is getting close to its end, two or three more chapters at best, so thanks to all of those who are still with me on this and sorry once again for the delay.

One funny flame to mention from the reviews for the previous chapter, of course anonymous, since it takes some guts to flame using your regular account so people could answer you. Rage was about how I didn't explain how Zetsu managed to once again infiltrate a secured place inside a hostile territory during war time. Well, I thought it would be repetitive to once again explain how he can fuse with woods and plants or even impersonate anyone he wants, my bad if that makes this story piss poor writing.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 58 : The Last War<strong>

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><p><strong>River Country<strong>

Naruto gazed at the borders separating River and Rain Country, completely ignoring the crowd of shinobi that camped behind him. This place was chosen during their last meeting to be the starting point of the Alliance's counterattack against Sasuke's armies. Being a former part of the enemy's territories, it was likely to be the place where the borders would be the least fortified.

This, of course, didn't mean there would be only one battlefield, as Otogakure and its allies were still controlling a large part of the continent. According to the spies, Oto had close to thirty thousand men while the Alliance's forces were estimated to be around fifty thousands. Despite these odds, there was no certitude that the Alliance would prevail in the end, as there was also a huge unknown factor with the Akatsuki, no one really knew what they still had in store.

Behind Naruto, stood an army of ten thousand ninja, exclusively composed by shinobi and kunoichi from Konohagakure. There was a proposal during the last meeting to mix troops from each of the Five Great Village into the different armies that would strike against Oto, to promote unity and peace among them. The idea was surprisingly shot down by the Leader himself, Naruto, but not without some explaining.

The blond gave two reasons behind his refusal to that particular proposal. First, considering the current state of the different armies stationed all around Otogakure's borders, it would take a tremendous amount of logistic and time in order to arrange such a change in the composition of those armies. Time was something the Alliance couldn't afford, they had to take advantage of the fall of River Country, before Oto had a chance to reorganize its defenses.

The second point Naruto pointed out was about the environment and functional knowledge. Each men had a better understanding of the surroundings and environmental conditions from where they were used to fight, as such putting an Iwa soldier at the other side of the Elemental Nations, say in Fire Country, made no sense at all. The same could be said about team dynamics, that Iwa shinobi would work a lot better with a team composed and led by shinobi from his Village rather than from a foreign Village, even more so if said team members came from a historically rival village, such as the Leaf.

No Kage could find any argument to counter the Alliance's Leader, and so it was decided each army would remain where it currently is, with few to no troops movement inside the allies. Everybody knew Naruto didn't chose this configuration as a way to segregate the people from each nations, he did it because it was strategically the best decision, considering the tight time frame they had. All still remembered his speech during the first Kage Meeting in Iron Country, calling for the unity between the nations and the dream he shared with his late sensei, Jiraiya the Toad Sage, to see people finally understanding each other.

The only exception was Kirigakure. Sharing no borders with any of the Nations under Sasuke's command, Mei decided to dispatch her troops between Konoha and Kumo in the East, with more reinforcements in Fire Country due to its geographical position. This would constitute the Eastern front line.

It also allowed Tsunade to allocate to Naruto most of the men he currently had under his command, with a small addition from Suna. The blond had the task to push north from his position in River Country, against the still weakly fortified borders from the south of Ame. The Western front was shared between Iwa and Suna, Kurotsuchi and Gaara were to respectively attack Takigakure and Kusagakure from the other side of the continent.

Naruto only requested a few particular people for the army he had under his command. He asked for the old Team Eight, Kurenai, Hinata and Kiba. This was a logical choice, them being his former genin team and those he worked well with in Konoha's regular forces.

Additionally, he also requested Konan and more surprisingly Karin. It still amazed him to have discovered a true blood Uzumaki woman with her. He already had his suspicions when he made her his prisoner, but when the blood test results were announced, even Tsunade was surprised to find out the red haired kunoichi really was an Uzumaki, and her distant relative as Naruto is.

Karin was an orphan, just like Naruto, and when she was told of her origins, she was so happy it almost made her forget about Sasuke and Kabuto's betrayal. Naruto and Karin were naturally drawn to each other, and soon the blond offered her a place in his clan and compound, and she gladly accepted. Unlike Konan or Kurenai, Karin was more like the spoiled little sister Naruto never had.

The rest of the troops were chosen by Tsunade, most were young though not inexperienced nor weak. This was just so she could be sure no one under his command would be likely to hold a grudge against him for supposedly holding the Kyuubi inside him. It was still a highly classified information that the bijuu was long gone, freed from the seal.

Speaking of the 'devil', Natsuki was of course with him, still nowhere as strong as she used to be in the past but strong enough to not stay home like a civilian. She was as strong as a Kage and, more importantly, she was the only one who could hold Naruto back, if the blond ever went overboard. No matter how hard Naruto had argued with her, saying that he couldn't take the risk of having her on the battlefield, the red haired vixen did not listen and followed him, Alliance's leader or not.

Naruto refocused his attention on the situation at hand, according to their battle plan, today was the day Oto would fall.

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><p><strong>With the Eastern Command Center<strong>

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><p>Tsunade, Mei and A chose to place their joint command center in the North West of Fire Country, where they could reach their troops on each front line. Additionally to their tasks as leader of their armies, each Kage chose to deal with a particular aspect in running the camp. Tsunade went to run the hospital they installed, Mei would oversee the prisoner section and A would deal with the camp security.<p>

This was one of the resolution reached by the council, a way to counter Sasuke's doujutsu. Mei had a few Yamanaka under her command that were to scan every prisoner they would take and remove all mental control placed upon them. Inoichi had told them he already encountered once or twice subjects under the hold of the **Kotoamatsukami**, and that his clan most experienced members could dispel the jutsu. As such, a small number of Yamanaka members were dispatch to each front line. Ino was sent with Naruto to the South while Inoichi went to the West with Gaara.

The Raikage followed another resolution of the council, dealing with detection of the people under the influence of that genjutsu. Ao, with his implanted **Byakugan** had told the council that he could detect someone under the hold of that jutsu. It was then confirmed by Hiashi after that and as a result a certain number of Hyuga was dispatch to each front, in order to help in preventing controlled people to interfere with their mission. Neji went West, while Hiashi and Hanabi remained in Fire Country. Naruto had already selected Hinata as one of his soldiers so he was covered too.

Finally, Tsunade insisted on having specialized medic for each front line. The Hokage remained in Fire Country while her assistant, Shizune, went West and Naruto already had Hinata and Ino, two of Tsunade's apprentices with him. It was also discovered that Karin had a amazing ability to heal people, most likely coming from her Uzumaki blood. Seeing the bite marks on her body, Naruto was very reluctant to let her use her powers like this again, but the red head insisted, she wanted to have revenge against those who abandoned her to her death. Naruto could never say no to the women in his life so he once again conceded.

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><p><strong>With the Western Command Center<strong>

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><p>Gaara and Kurotsuchi had established a similar outpost as the one in the East, theirs was in Earth Country where they could both oversee the siege of Kusagakure and Takigakure. Shizune, Neji and Inoichi were there too and each went to do what their were selected to in the camp. However, there was major difference between this camp and the one on the other side of the enemy lands, Kurotsuchi was alone in running the camp, her fellow Kage having chosen to be somewhere else.<p>

Despite the dangers and even with him being one of Akatsuki's target, Gaara chose to lead the assault himself. His reasoning was that even Naruto, the Alliance's Leader, was going to risk his life on the battlefield. He saw no reason for him to be protected and far from the front lines while his friend would fight for them all. Temari was far from pleased with his decision but there wasn't much she could say to her Kage. Kankuro would have objected too, if it wasn't for the fact that he remained in Suna to oversee the defense of their borders and the Village's safety.

Seeing this and not wanting to sound weak in front of the man she became quite close to, Kurotsuchi wanted to participate in the fights too. However, the presence of a Kage in each command center was mandatory, to insure the cooperation between everyone. As such, the brunette was forced to remain in the camp. The other Kage on the Eastern side were more experienced and level headed, they all chose to remain behind and organize their troops rather than participating themselves in the battles.

The Tsuchikage was currently in the communication building of the camp, where radio messages were centralized. Kurotsuchi looked at the time and saw it was almost time for Operation Stormbringer to start. She heavily sighed and prepared herself to broadcast the mission start to the troops.

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><p><strong>Back in River Country<strong>

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><p>The Southern army was now up and ready, every man and woman under his command was now hiding in the forest behind Naruto. Their mission was simple, to break through the enemies lines and push forward from their position. However, for Operation Stormbringer, the goal was not to recover the fallen city of Amegakure from Sasuke, Naruto's troops were to immediately move towards the borders east and west, once they have broken through the southern defenses in order to take the defenders position from behind. This would be repeated in every country until all that's left are the villages being surrounded and with no possible escape routes.<p>

It was night time, everything around them was dark and only the sounds from the forest around them could be heard. Suddenly, two poof of smoke appeared in front of Naruto and two of his dragon summons popped out.

"**Naruto-sama, the Eastern army has begun the mission."** Reported the first one.

"**Naruto-sama, the Western army is on the move as well."** Announced the second one.

"Very well, thanks for the help you can both return to the dragon world." Naruto said as he dismissed the two creatures. The blond then turned back towards his army and spoke to them.

"The time has come to start our mission. As I speak, our brothers and sisters have already begun to engage the enemy all over the continent. All are waiting for us to join them. From our actions will depend the success of this mission, the fate of the Elemental Nations will be decided today. We shall prevail and free this world from Otogakure and its allies. Move out !" Naruto said as he was the first the charge forward.

Natsuki, Konan and Karin immediately went after him and the rest of the army soon followed as well. Up until now, everyone knew he was the Alliance's Leader but only those really close to him knew he was the right man for that job. Now however, everyone saw his passion and enthusiasm, they all followed after him knowing he would lead them to victory.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Kage Tower<strong>

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><p>Sasuke was alone in his office, still thinking about ways to defeat Naruto and dominate the world. Of course he knew of the blond's status as the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi but, Zetsu's report about how the nine tailed bijuu was freed from the seal really put him in a terrible mood.<p>

He always thought during their encounters that Naruto somehow cheated against him, using an external source of power in order to upstage him, an elite Uchiha. There was no other way to explain how a clan-less and talentless idiot like him could have beaten him.

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by the arrival of three people in his office. Kabuto went through the door, Zetsu rose from the ground while Tobi phase out of nowhere, appearing through a wormhole.

"Otokage-sama, the Alliance is attacking our borders from the South. According to the reports, Naruto himself is leading the assault, with their current speed, they will be here in about thirty minutes." Kabuto reported first to his leader.

"**They are also crossing the borders of the other Nations under your command. Rice, Waterfall and Grass Countries are being overrun by the combined forces of their Western and Eastern armies."** Zetsu announced.

"It seems like the final battle for the domination of the Elemental Nations has begun. How do you plan to react to their aggression, Sasuke ?" Tobi asked the younger Uchiha leader.

"Recall all our troops here into the city, they won't be able to defeat us here behind the fortified walls of the city ! The other countries will have to hold on until we're done with Naruto and his little army here in the South." Sasuke yelled.

"_If that blond idiot thinks I only have ten thousands men stationed here in Rain Country, he will have a nice surprise when he comes here ..." _He thought with a smirk on his face.

Kabuto left immediately, with his new orders to recall all of their troops from the outskirts of the city to come stand behind its walls.

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>While Sasuke was withdrawing all his troops from the land to come back inside his capitol, expecting Naruto and his army to fight him there, the blond continued to advance inside Rain Country.<p>

Naruto was moving forward at great speed, with thousands of men behind him. They didn't even try to mask their presence as they advanced, letting Sasuke's spies informing their leader of their movements. However this was all part of the plan, Naruto was in fact not even there and all the people around him were shadow clones he made to appear like an army in march.

He had already divided his actual forces in two groups, giving each group the same command, to run toward the borders and destroy the enemy from behind. The Kage had anticipated Sasuke's reaction and knew he would try to reinforce his position, no matter how many men he'd lose in the process.

With their retreating routes blocked by Naruto's troops, the soldiers from Oto were quickly overrun and lots of them were captured. There were of course casualties on both sides, since most of them were "programmed" by the **Kotoamatsukami **to blindly follow orders without any form of questioning.

Medics and mind walkers were really busy now, with the sheer number of injured and prisoners that were coming back from the front lines. The captured enemies and injured allies were quickly evacuated towards the neighboring countries while those who were still able to fight continued on with their mission.

The two groups soon met again in the North of Rain Country, having gone around the city of Amegakure and then reformed into a single army. Instead of going for the capitol, they moved up North again toward Grass Country to repeat what they just did, before the enemy could even understand their real goal.

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><p><strong>Timeskip – Three days later.<strong>

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><p>It took the Alliance's armies three days of fighting but in the end they managed to conquer back every single Nation formerly under the influence of Otogakure. The exception was Rain Country where the city of Amegakure was still occupied.<p>

Naruto's army used the same tactic each time, going behind the enemies lines and cutting their retreating routes while the armies of the East and West were forcing their way through the other side.

The villages of Tanigakure and Kusagakure tried to resist behind their walls as Ame was currently doing but they didn't have a Kage nor the resources to resist the combined strength of the Five Great Villages.

The casualties were tremendous on the defender side, it was estimated that Otogakure lost fifteen thousand men during Operation Stormbringer. Five thousand men were captured and in the process of being scanned by the Yamanaka clan's mind walkers.

The Alliance still lost five thousand men, most of them during the siege of the two minor villages of Tanigakure and Kusagakure. The "drones" from Sasuke's army fought to the bitter end, dragging with them as many as they could.

It was now the morning of the fourth day since Operation Stormbringer started and Tsunade was presented with a very unusual present during the Kage Meeting of that day. In front of the council of the Five Kage and Naruto, was none other than Otogakure's Head of the Medics, the one and only Haruno Sakura, gagged and blindfolded.

The pink haired kunoichi was escorted by both the Hyuga and Yamanaka Clan Head, as she was brought before the council.

"So … What's her status ?" Tsunade calmly asked, hoping for a certain answer from the two men in front of her.

"I'm afraid to say she is totally free of any form of mind control, Hokage-sama. My eyes could not see any trace of the Uchiha's doujutsu on her neither." Hiashi reported.

"I see … Now what to do with your former apprentice ..." Naruto mused out loud.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

I hope the battle plan or Operation Stormbringer specifics were not too confusing or unrealistic. I left the real fighting between known characters for the next chapter, this one is only a preparation to that.

What do you think will happen to Sakura ? What will be Sasuke's reaction to losing all of his countries ? Is is really the end for Otogakure ?

Read the next issue to find out and please Read and Review.


	59. Final Siege

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Alright, here we go for a new chapter, I may have made some mistakes with the plot or antagonize some people with my decisions but, as far as I'm concerned, it was one hell of a ride and I thank you all again for your participation to the construction of this first project of mine.<p>

Now, I couldn't help but laugh as I took a look at the responses I got for the previous chapter. I can't really blame you guys since Sakura isn't exactly my favorite character either but what a consensus, everyone wanted the pink haired kunoichi to meet her end after the council meeting, some even provided means of doing so, quite painful and imaginative means I may add. I will concede the question about Sasuke's reaction to the whole losing the war thing was not really a question, as we all know how the emo king would behave in that situation.

Surprisingly, no one complained about how there was no **Edo Tensei** or the fact that the Alliance won too fast or too easily. I guess my author note with the warning about distancing the story from the canon development paid off. Thanks for your patience and I'll let you read how this goes on ...

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 59 : The Final Siege<strong>

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><p><strong>Fortified Command Center<strong>

Haruno Sakura could hear some people speaking around her but with the blindfold and the gag, she couldn't recognize the several occupants of the room she was currently being held in. She only managed to identify the voices of Tsunade, her former sensei and Naruto, her former classmate in the academy.

The kunoichi paled when she heard what they were speaking about, things were not looking good for her, she was charged with high treason and they even found a way to discriminate the people who really were under Sasuke's mind control doujutsu.

She couldn't believe how easy it was for her to be captured, by her former rival for Sasuke's affection no less, Yamanaka Ino. She was in the process of running away from Kusagakure before the Alliance could start its siege. Like many others in her case, she was intercepted by Naruto's armies before they could reach Amegakure. The blond quickly took out the several jonin that were escorting her while Ino used a strange genjutsu that caught her off guard.

The rest is history and when she finally woke up, her chakra was already sealed and her movements were restricted. The next thing she knows, she's brought here in a room where her former master and classmate are discussing her fate with other people she didn't even know of.

"There is but one fate for those who betrayed the trust of their comrades and village, Hokage-dono." The Raikage said as he saw Tsunade hesitating with her decision on how to deal with Sakura.

His words did not seem to wake Tsunade up though, seeing his Ba-chan in this state, Naruto decided to stand up next to her and say the words she knew she had to pronounce but couldn't bring herself to, considering her relation to the convicted kunoichi.

"Haruno Sakura, for your crimes against the Leaf you are hereby sentenced to death. You would have been granted a quick and painless death, were your crimes only limited to your act of treason against Konoha. However, for your participation in the systematic and organized genocide of the population from the several villages your master Uchiha Sasuke invaded, you will be executed in public as soon as the situation allows it. Hiashi, Inoichi, I want her chakra permanently sealed and her memory fully scanned for any information you may deem relevant to help us win this war against her master." Naruto announced.

The two clan heads were surprised by Naruto's presence and how the blond radiated authority in a room already full of leaders. Both nodded before taking away the prisoner, she would be escorted straight back to Konoha as soon as they could extract whatever they needed from her mind. Sakura was never allowed to speak for herself during all this, as unfair as it may seem, she was guilty, all knew and they had solid proof of it.

"Now, let's move on with this meeting, shall we ?" Naruto said as he went through hand signs and sealed the room. Given the enemy's recent abilities to infiltrate even the most secured places, they couldn't be too careful about this from now on.

For the next two hours, every Kage gave the assembly a precise report of all their battles against Otogakure's forces. As expected, Konoha had more casualties than any of the other villages, since they fought on more front lines and had specialized teams dispatched all over the continent with their medics, mind walkers and **Byakugan** users.

It was also decided during that time that the recent territories freed from the enemy's armies would be temporary placed under the Alliance's control, as protectorates, at least until all those nations could rule by themselves once again.

As such, for the time being Kiri had to oversee Hot Spring Country, Kumo had Rice Country, Iwa got Waterfall while Suna took Grass. With Konan and her ties to Rain Country, Naruto and Tsunade agreed to have Konoha take charge in Rain when the country would be free again from Sasuke's clutches.

"Now that all those things are out of the way, we have one final matter to discuss, Amegakure ..." Naruto said, gaining once again the attention of the entire room as the Alliance's Leader spoke about the last stronghold still under Sasuke's influence.

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Kage Tower<strong>

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><p>Speaking of the devil, Uchiha Sasuke, said young man was currently pacing inside his office. He was furious, scrap that, he was livid at the blond and his friends for once again humiliating him. He thought that the enemy would for sure target him first, with him being the Kage and an Uchiha. But instead of that, they only went for the other secondary targets, completely disregarding Amegakure.<p>

Now, he lost all communications with the other shinobi villages under his command. He also lost contact with Sakura, the kunoichi was pretty pathetic in terms of combat abilities but her healing skills would have been more than welcomed on this day, with the massive amount of injured they had. She was supposed to visit Kusagakure and its new poison research facility when all this mess started. The only thing he knew was that the village was attacked and they had to flee.

As a result he knew that all he had left was the fortified city of Amegakure, even Rain Country was out of his reach now, with the Alliance's armies were all around them, a huge siege was established and they were surrounded from all direction.

In terms of military power, from the once thirty thousand men under his command, only remained ten thousand of them and even then, a good quarter of them were injured. The rest were tired and under a great deal of pressure. His last resort was to trust in the project Kabuto and Tobi had been working on for the past several weeks. He was pulled out of his musing as his second in command entered his office.

"I'm here to report the success from the activation of the clones, my lord." Kabuto said with a smirk, as he stood before his leader.

"Finally some good news, how many of them were viable so far ?" Sasuke seemed satisfied and asked back.

"Seventy five thousands, my lord. Some of them are still in the underground lab but I took the liberty to deploy the rest all around the village." Kabuto replied, taking out a mini map and showing Sasuke the position of their new forces.

"You did well, now, where is Tobi ? Was he not working with you on this project ?" Sasuke said, noticing that the masked man was not there with Kabuto.

"He was, my lord, but he disappeared as soon as the clones were activated. You better than anyone else know how hard it is to track that man with his space / time jutsu." Kabuto said with a frown.

"I see, what of the prisoner Tobi brought that helped to speed up the project ?" Sasuke asked.

"Still locked within the underground lab, I've put him under with pretty strong drugs, he shouldn't wake up any soon." Kabuto reported.

"What about Suigetsu, Guren, Kimimaro and Juugo ? What are they all up to?" Sasuke didn't really keep in touch with his staff lately, ever since the Alliance's counterattack started, the Otokage just stayed locked inside his office, only meeting with Kabuto once in a while.

"Suigetsu is dealing with the remains of your army, Juugo and Kimimaro and restless ever since Sakura disappeared and I haven't seen Guren in a while, I'm afraid she discovered that Yukimaru is no more under our care and she plans or already did betrayed you." Kabuto replied.

"We'll deal with that woman later, for now I want you to go with Suigetsu and oversee the healing of the injured. I want them all ready to fight once the enemy attacks us once again." Sasuke gave Kabuto his new orders.

The silver haired scientist left immediately after that, leaving Sasuke alone in his office once more. Neither of them took the time to look out the window or they would have noticed that strange looking bird that flew in circle in the sky of their city. It would have taken a single glance at it with the **Sharingan** to see that instead of a bird, the creature was in fact a small sized dragon, summoned by Naruto in order to scout their defenses.

The dragon spy didn't stay that long though, it just took enough time to spot the city's main defenses and assess the number of soldiers defending it. There was a lot to report and Naruto needed to know what it found out immediately so the creature dispelled itself to return faster to its summoner.

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><p><strong>Back in the Alliance's Command Center<strong>

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><p>Naruto and the five Kage were still discussing the details of their upcoming assault against the city of Amegakure when a puff of smoke disturbed their session. Out of the smoke appeared a small dragon and it immediately flew towards Naruto, its summoner, in order to give its report about the enemy's base.<p>

"**Naruto-sama, as per your wishes, I went to investigate the defenses of Amegakure. They have built up a large wall that goes all around the city, with multiple traps on its surface to avoid invaders climbing up.**

**In addition to this, they set up some kind of long-range anti-siege weaponry that allows them to launch large rocks over a great distance. These devices are placed on the rooftops of their very tall towers which allows them an even better range.**

**Finally, my first estimation of the total number of their army is eighty thousand men at least. There was something off about the most of them though, I felt something familiar from most of them but couldn't say what exactly."** The dragon said, bowing down in front of Naruto.

The audience was stunned by the information they just got from Naruto's spy, overwhelmed by the details of what Sasuke still had at his disposal.

"We all knew it was a possibility before Operation Stormbringer was initialized. In exchange for taking back all the territories that Sasuke invaded, we would in return, at least temporary, turn our eyes away from him and allow him to fortify his position while we take out his outposts." A said.

"But to think he still had that much soldiers under his command, they greatly outnumber us and furthermore, they hold the defender's position and the higher grounds." Mei added.

"We won't be able to come that much closer to their walls with their long-range weapons." Gaara mused out loud.

"Even if we take those machines out of the equation, their walls are still on our way. We won't be able to climb them so easily if they are trapped and have guards shooting us down over them." Kurotsuchi commented.

"You're too quiet, Naruto. What are you thinking about ?" Tsunade asked the Alliance's Leader.

"We can't get any closer to the city without losing many men in the process, and even if we could, we'd still be outnumbered two to one with them having the higher grounds." Naruto said.

"We already know that, Gaki. What are you trying to say ?" A barked out.

"You all look at the battlefield with only a two-dimensional point of view, however, if we were to consider a three-dimensional view of that same battlefield, there are two other ways to get in there that none of you have considered yet.

We still surround them in all the directions, so unless they want to expose themselves by going out from behind their walls, it leaves us with all the time and space we need in order to prepare such an assault against them.

Many of us have summoning contracts that would help us with the upcoming plan, my dragons could prove very useful in getting us over their defenses by flying over them. So now, let's get to work ..." Naruto announced, missing the look of amazement from all the people inside the room.

"**Ninpo : Kuchiyose no Jutsu !"** Yelled the blond, as a small dragon creature was summoned into the human world.

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><p><strong>Amegakure - One Week later ...<strong>

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><p>One agonizing week had passed ever since the alliance started the siege around the city of Amegakure. The soldiers were fine, given the fact that they either were the soulless drones programmed by Sasuke to do his bidding or Zetsu's clones that had no mind of their own either.<p>

The ones under pressure were Sasuke and his staff, they couldn't sleep very well, knowing that their enemy was right there, just outside the walls of the city, ready to attack. Sasuke even started to wonder if the Alliance's plan was to just stand there and wait for them to starve to death while doing nothing more than block their escape routes.

However, on the dawn of seventh day of waiting the silence was finally broken by the alarm's sound, resonating all around the city. The already clouded sky of the city where it never stops to rain became even darker as thousands of creature were spotted in the sky above them.

"We're under attack, Uchiha-sama. It's the Alliance's armies, they are attacking us from above !" Yelled a jonin that barged into Sasuke's office.

"To the walls idiots, to the walls. Take position on the walls and shoot them down !" Sasuke replied as he got on top of his Kage Tower to get a better view of the battle. He was soon joined by the remaining of his staff, Kabuto, Kimimaro, Juugo and Suigetsu.

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><p><strong>With Mei, Kurotsuchi and Gaara<strong>

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><p>Leading the assault from the sky were Mei, Kurotsuchi and Gaara. They had ten thousand men with them, riding summon creatures from all the summoners that could call forth flying animals. Naruto provided most of them by having Ryuoh, the Dragon King himself, reverse summoned all his kingdom with him to the human world.<p>

Gaara was there as well, providing them with countermeasures against the defender's weapons with his sand shield. The Kazekage floated above the sky with his chakra controlled sand, where the enemy could not reach him.

Mei and Kurotsuchi were chosen to lead that attack due to their extensive mastery of Yoton ninjutsu, allowing them to bombard the city from above using their very effective lava attacks. The men and women with them used exploding tags to hit the city from their positions, doing less damage than the two Kage but still efficient.

It took Sasuke's men some precious minutes to reorganize themselves, allowing the Alliance's forces to hit many of their strategic defense systems. The long range artillery was hit first, it was their priority to destroy those targets if they wanted to succeed in this battle. The main doors were targeted next, their fall would allow the twenty thousand men waiting outside to infiltrate the city.

When Sasuke's men finally started to fire back against the aerial assault, Gaara used his radio transmitter to contact his allies.

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><p><strong>With Naruto, A and Bee<strong>

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><p>"<strong>Phase one is clear, I repeat, Phase one is clear."<strong> Could be heard on the private channel used by the Alliance's commanders.

"That's Gaara's signal, the enemy is currently drawn to their walls, it's our chance to strike them in their back." Naruto said, getting nods from the Raikage and his brother.

They were currently in the same sewer system that allowed Naruto, Konan and Kurenai to infiltrate the city not that long ago. As expected, the passage they had used to get inside the first time had been sealed ever since but, with the time they had, new tunnels were dug and they were in the process of detonating a large number of exploding tags, right under the surface of Amegakure's town center.

Naruto, A and Bee were chosen to lead the underground assault since they were the heavy hitters of the Alliance. Naruto and Bee were Juggernaut, monsters of chakra and stamina while A was most likely the deadliest man alive in close contact. They too had ten thousand men with them, ready to jump out of the hole they were planing to create with the explosion of those tags.

With a single Ram hand sign, Naruto sent a silent command that activated all the exploding tags. A tremendous explosion followed and opened a gaping hole, right under the center of Amegakure.

"Let's go men, fight if you wanna live !" A shouted as their group jumped out of the giant hole they just created. The Raikage immediately activated his **Raiton no Yoroi**, making him a lot faster and stronger.

Bee and Naruto looked at each other, shrugging and then followed behind the hyperactive Kage, with Bee calling forth the Hachibi youki and transforming into his tailed beast form while Naruto activated his Ultimate Wind Form, the **Ten'i Muho no Kiwami**.

Once they reached the surface, they saw that the Raikage was already going wild with the first defenders he could get his electrically charged hands on. Naruto sighed and then took out a kunai with a strange looking tag attached to it. The blond threw it high in the sky and when the tag activated, it produced a deep red flash above their position.

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><p><strong>With Tsunade, Yugito and Natsuki<strong>

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><p>Sounds of the explosion from Amegakure's town center were heard all the way to the Alliance's HQ and seconds later the red flash was seen as well.<p>

"That's our sign to begin the ground frontal assault. Yugito, Natsuki you take the lead and I will organize our forces and see to the injured ones from behind." Tsunade said to the two kunoichi.

"Hai, Hokage-dono. You heard her, we move out. As soon as the gates fall we will charge right through them." Yugito said, standing ion front of the twenty thousand men in attention behind her.

Another explosion was heard, closer to them. It was a combined attack of both the Tsuchi and Mizu Kage that just vaporized Amegakure's main gates.

"Let's go, the gates have fallen !" Yelled Natsuki as they all charged forward.

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><p><strong>AN : **What do you think ?

The final battle has started, with the Alliance's three step plan. So far everything goes well enough, will this last ?

This is still absolute chaos inside Amegakure, how will the defenders react, what will be Sasuke's strategy, if he got one ?

Tobi still has to make his appearance, what is he up to ?

Read the next issue to find out :)

As usual please Read and Review.


	60. Chaos under the Rain

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Alright, the moment has come for the final battle to really begin. The previous chapter received unanimous support from all the reviewers, I'm very impressed. Got no complain about Sakura's fate and her upcoming execution, I suppose I already lost all her fans a long time ago or they did the smart thing and chose to not read a story with the "Team 7 bashing" tag :)<p>

Now, all the pieces have been carefully placed on the chessboard and are ready to be moved. I've been asked an interesting question about who the "key players" are in this war. Obviously Naruto is the "good" side's King and Natsuki is his Queen while the Kage can easily be identified as the Knights, Rooks or Bishops. I guess the "bad" side is more difficult to assess, Sasuke is the King or is he ?

Well, everything will be answered in this chapter or the next one, so sit tight and enjoy the ride. I must warn you that there is still one final major twist that may or may not please you readers, however, things have always been planned to be played out like this.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 60 : Chaos under the Rain<br>**

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Top of the Kage Tower<strong>

Sasuke and the rest of his staff were quite surprised by the violence of the explosion that shook the entire area when the city's main gates were taken down. They could only stare from far away at the two kunoichi who were responsible for that action, the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage themselves, riding on top of two medium-sized dragon summons.

Otogakure may have had a two to one numerical advantage in terms of army size, it didn't prevent the Alliance from taking advantage of the fact that they were trapped in a confined environment in order to outsmart them. His troops were just beginning to fire back against the enemy's flying forces when Sasuke saw the center of his city collapse, with the timed appearance of a giant hole made by explosives below the ground's surface.

Naruto, the Hachibi jinchuriki and the Raikage were leading that ground assault. Those three were army killers, meaning that each of them had the strength to fight off large numbers of enemies on their own.

True to his reputation, the Lightning Shadow was already decimating Otogakure's troops left and right as he got out of the hole, covered by his **Raiton no Yoroi**. This jutsu boosted his body's entire nerve system, allowing him to move and react to everything a lot faster than any other human being alive could. He was so fast it was almost impossible for his enemies to see him move until it was already too late to dodge.

Next was Killer Bee, jinchuriki of the Eight Tailed Octopus and the Raikage's younger brother. Bee immediately changed into his bijuu form and started to go on a rampage within the city, destroying buildings and stomping over his opponents as if they were ants. Due to his massive size, jutsu, weapons or anything they could throw at him had no effect on him, other than slowing him down a bit.

Finally there was Uzumaki Naruto, Leader of the entire Alliance's forces and former jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox. The blond already had his ultimate wind form activated as he jumped out of the hole, the **Ten'i Muho no Kiwami**, that allowed him godly mastery over the wind element.

It was a fortunate thing for Oto that Kabuto managed to develop a counter to one of Naruto's most destructive jutsu, the **Hakugei** or its derivative the **Hakuryu**. That jutsu allowed Naruto to literally make his opponents explode from far away, by expelling wind highly charged with chakra over his targets and then forcibly pulling that wind back from within the unfortunate victims. Since their first encounter with that incredible jutsu, namely the battle of the Bloody Rain, Kabuto had devised a mask that every Oto shinobi was now required to wear, preventing Naruto's controlled wind to be inhaled.

Never one to be discouraged by such a setback, Naruto chose to simply use his katana for the time being, cutting through his opposition with his long range kenjutsu style, as if they were merely made of glass.

It was the last straw for Sasuke when he gazed at the horizon, only to see the rest of the Alliance's armies approaching his now vulnerable city with its broken gates. He couldn't afford to let them come inside his capitol, the situation was already chaotic enough as it was for more intruders to come in, he had to make his move now or it would be too late.

"Kabuto, you're in charge of the protection of the walls and the space where the gates used to be. You have more than enough troops there in order to fight them back, make use of the artillery we hid in anticipation for this battle." The Otokage ordered his second in command.

"As you command, my Lord. What about you though ? What will you be doing in the mean time ?" Kabuto inquired, wondering what his leader's intentions were.

"I'm going to take control of our forces in the center of the city, Suigetsu, Kimimaro and Juugo, you three are with me. Kabuto, I want you to win me some time in order to prepare my counter, the Alliance's forces from the sky and those approaching from outside cannot be allowed to join with those on the inside of the city, do you understand me ?" Sasuke replied.

"Yes I understand, my Lord." Kabuto said from his position before moving away to do as his master ordered him to.

With Kabuto gone, Sasuke and his elite guard made their way towards the center of the city.

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><p><strong>Above the city with Gaara, Mei and Kurotsuchi<strong>

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><p>Kurotsuchi and Mei were still bombarding the city with Yoton techniques from the sky, destroying buildings and killing Otogakure's soldiers left and right. Neither of them had tried to hold back, their jutsu were simply not made to take prisoners, melting away anything that was in their striking range.<p>

They didn't really need to concern themselves with their own defense either, since every kunai jutsu or projectiles that went near them was blocked by Gaara's sand. The Kazekage was floating high above in the sky, deflecting every attempt to shoot down his two fellow Kage. However, Gaara could only do so much with his concentration, and it took a lot from him to cover for those two women who had to fly very close to the ground for their jutsu to really be effective.

Otogakure really had an overwhelming number of men defending the walls of the city, for every man taken down, two more came after him to take his place on the wall. It started to show on the battlefield, as more and more soldiers from Gaara's group were shot down from the sky.

The top of a tall building suddenly collapsed, with no intervention from the Alliance's forces, surprising the three Kage as they turned their eyes to it. As the dust was blown away, it revealed the presence of Kabuto, the second in command himself, escorted by a few of his men.

However, what really caught the attention of the three Kage were the strange machines that were hidden on top of that tower. Gaara's eyes widened as he understood their purpose, those were automatic kunai launchers, already loaded and ready to be fired. They didn't have the time to further study those devices as Kabuto's men immediately started to fire them towards Mei and Kurotsuchi.

Gaara's controlled sand immediately sprang into action and blocked the first wave of kunai but, to the Kazekage's surprised, the force behind those kunai was far greater than for a kunai thrown by a human being. Another thing that caught Gaara off guard was the fact that they detonated on impact with his sand barrier, most likely being exploding tags ignited once they were launched. All in all, it took Gaara a lot more chakra to withstand those attacks than it previously did.

While this was happening, Kabuto managed to change position and jump toward two other towers where he revealed the same defense mechanism as the one he just released, right under the nose of Gaara and his group.

"Fall back, we need to temporary distance ourselves from those, I won't be able to hold them back forever." Gaara said to the group, getting nods from both Mei and Kurotsuchi.

Seeing this, Kabuto smirk as the first step of his plan worked. He had just managed to create a safe zone for them inside the perimeter formed by the firing range of those three towers, equipped with the exploding kunai launchers. This was a good thing that those devices were kept hidden until the last moment, otherwise they would have been destroyed during the Alliance's first wave as the rest of their long range artillery.

Seeing the Alliance's main external ground assault forces approaching, Kabuto decided to initiate the second part of his plan. He jumped out again from one of those towers, toward the center of the safe heaven he just created. He landed on another tower, this one being a bit lower than the other three and then activated a hidden mechanism that once again blew away the roof of the building. Instead of the mid-low ranged kunai launchers, this time it was one of those long range rocks launcher that Gaara's group destroyed in the first moment of the battle.

"_Damn, he got us. We can't get close enough to hit that new machine and he reorganized their troops to defend that position. At this rate the ground forces will be exterminated ..."_ Gaara thought as he saw Yugito and the twenty thousand men under her command approaching the city's entrance.

The Kazekage was pulled out of his thoughts as the first rock was launched towards the ground troops. The rock flew away very fast and suddenly detonated mid air, in the space above their allies, killing dozens of them in the process.

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><p><strong>In front of the City with Yugito and Natsuki<strong>

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><p>The Alliance's main army was currently struggling to get inside the city, as countless Oto shinobi were blocking their way in front of the main entrance. The defenders troops were regrouping themselves in front of the giant hole that stood in the place where the main gates used to stand.<p>

Yugito and Natsuki were organizing the troops as Tsunade had asked them to, however, they were both caught off guard by the appearance of a giant boulder flying over them.

"What the hell was that ?" Yugito shouted as she saw the giant rock flying over her men and then suddenly exploding, burying a few dozen of them under a shower of smaller rocks.

"Must have been the ammo from one of their long ranged defense devices that Naruto's dragon spy spoke about. What the heck is going on up there ?" Natsuki replied, as surprised as Yugito.

"I don't know, they were supposed to destroy all of those damn things as soon as the battle started, what can we do, we are sitting ducks for that weapon if we stay parked here." Yugito said.

"We can't go back, Gaara and his group would be fine since they can fly and all but Naru-kun will have no way out if we back out now !" Natsuki yelled.

"I know how you feel, believe me, Bee and A are still in there as well but what can we do against such firepower ?" Yugito said.

"I have an idea but I need to speak with Matatabi, can you switch with her for a moment please ?" Natsuki asked Yugito. The blonde nodded and then closed her eyes.

"**Hey there Na-chan, what's going on and what do you want from me ?"** The Nibi asked her former fellow bijuu comrade as she took possession of Yugito's body.

"We need a way into that city but those damn Oto ninja are in our way. We need a jutsu powerful enough to cut through their ranks, and I know the perfect one for that. I would have done it myself but I'm technically not a bijuu anymore." Natsuki replied.

"**You want me to fire an Imari against those fools ? It's a dangerous attack, I don't know, the friendly fire collateral damages could be tremendous, did you think about this ?"** The Nibi asked Natsuki.

"What other choice do we have, we're vulnerable right now against their weapon as we stand here, furthermore Naru-kun and his allies are in danger as well. Your host too, has her special people inside that damn city." The red head replied.

"**Precious people uh, you've change Natsuki. The old you would have never concerned herself with those human you now call precious. However, since the partial unsealing, I too, have new perspective on this world so I shall assist you in this."** Matatabi said as she started to gather youki around her body.

"Everyone, make way ! Yugito is going to unleash the powers of the Nibi so stay back, you've all been warned !" Natsuki yelled as she jumped back while Yugito's body was going through the bijuu transformation. Every Alliance's shinobi then jumped back, giving the Nibi the space she needed in order to fire her jutsu against the Oto armies.

In her full transformed state, Nibi gathered youki around her mouth in a spherical condensed form and then turned her head to aim at the place where they needed to go through, the city's entrance. As the jutsu was released, everything went blank …

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><p><strong>Center of the city with Naruto, Bee and A<strong>

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><p>Absolute chaos, that was the only definition of what was happening in the center of Amegakure. Near the hole that the Alliance's underground forces dug, stood the ten thousand ninja that came with Naruto, Bee and A. They were hiding among the rubble and ruins of the buildings that Bee destroyed in his bijuu form.<p>

The pressure created by the countless Oto shinobi trying to push them back was tremendous. Only three Alliance's warriors dared to break formation and venture into the deadly streets of the enemy's capitol. Naruto just killed another platoon that was trying to breach inside their perimeter, those men never knew what hit them as the blond used his undetectable genjutsu skills to decimate them.

"There's no end to them, what the hell is going on with our aerial and ground assault ?" Naruto asked loud enough for A and Bee to hear him out.

"No idea, but I don't plan to do this all day since my chakra reserves aren't bottomless as yours or my brother's are Naruto. Bee what do you see from up there ?" A replied to Naruto and then spoke to Killer Bee.

"**Those fools just brought out some damn mid and long ranged weapons from out of nowhere Bro, our men are shot down like flies and the external forces are under heavy bombardment."** Bee replied from his higher ground vision with his transformed state.

"No wonder we've been waiting all this time for our allies to link up with us without them showing up. They must have hidden some of their artillery weapons before the battle just in case." Naruto said.

"Bee ! Get your ass out there and go destroy those things before they get the chance to annihilate all of our allies." The Raikage yelled out to his younger brother.

"**Got it Bro, I'm on my way there."** Bee replied as he made his way towards the enemy's artillery.

"Will you do me a service Bee and go look out for Yugito and Natsuki at the doors once you're done with their …" Naruto didn't have the time to finish his sentence when a bright light illuminated the area.

Naruto's and Bee's eyes widened as they recognized the jutsu behind that phenomena, this was the bijuu **Imari**, the strongest offensive jutsu a bijuu could fire. Seeing that neither of them fired it and Gaara could no longer transform into his bijuu state, ever since Naruto tightened his seal, they both knew it was Yugito and Nibi who did this.

"_Things must be getting complicated for them out there, if Yugito had to resort to the **Imari**. I really hope Na-chan is fine, things aren't really turning out like we expected them to." _Naruto thought as the light slowly dissipated.

Bee was about to move on toward his new destination when one of his tentacle was suddenly lit on fire despite the continuous rain, proof that it was no normal fire and even more by their black color. This could only mean one thing for those who already knew of those dark flames, the **Amaterasu**, Uchiha Sasuke was among them somewhere close.

Bee was yelling in pain and moved around randomly, trying to put the flames out, but couldn't do anything against the inextinguishable flames of **Amaterasu**. Naruto lost no time as he revealed himself from under his genjutsu, unsheathed his katana and ran to the rampaging Bee with the clear intention to cut.

"What the hell are your trying to do to my brother, Naruto ?" The Raikage yelled, as he saw Naruto preparing his blade.

"Cutting myself a slice of nicely cooked Takoyaki, why do you want some ? Besides it's either that or we let the flames entirely consume his whole body. Don't worry too much though, you better than anyone know that Bee will pull through this, and it's not like I'm cutting out one of his real human form's limb anyway." Naruto replied as he performed a clean cut of the still burning tentacle.

"**Damn that hurt like hell, thanks Naruto. Now, where's the little shit who did this to me ?"** Bee roared as his burned body quickly healed with the help of his massive youki reserves.

"Your enemy is me, jinchuriki of the Hachibi. My sword will deal with your demonic powers." Suigetsu announced as he appeared on top of a tower with the **Samehada** in his hands.

The Raikage was about to move toward his brother when he suddenly had to jumped back, to avoid a volley of projectiles. Upon further inspection, he saw that they were all made of bone, most likely bones from a human hand's fingers. A turned his head in the direction where the bones came from to see Kimimaro. However he had to once again dodge another attack as Juugo appeared from the side and tried to punch him, A would have normally tried to block the punch, but Juugo had his entire arm transform into his cursed state.

"_A __**Shikotsumyaku**__ kekkei genkai user and someone with Orochimaru's __**Juinjutsu**__. I won't be able to get away that easily."_ The Raikage thought before reactivating his **Raiton no Yoroi**.

Naruto managed to hide behind his genjutsu again during the confusion and was about to go attack one of the newcomers from behind when the area around him was suddenly covered in black flames. The blond had to use the **Hiraishin** in order to get away, revealing his presence to the people around him.

"You finally came out to play with us … Sasuke." Naruto said as he reappeared on top of a tall tower looking right at his enemy, the Otokage himself.

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><p><strong>AN :** What do you think ?

Large scale battle between the Alliance and Otogakure. Almost everyone made an appearance by now, I'm saying almost since there are still some "bonus" players around that have yet to participate in the battle.

Next chapter will focus on the fight in the center of the city and the last twist will then be revealed. I think the next chapter will be the last one before the epilogue, I don't know if I'll start writing my next story at the same time, I have almost finalized its plot.

Anyway as usual please give me some opinions, so Read and Review.


	61. Timeless Hatred

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Looking at the reviews I got for the previous chapter, I'm glad the battle seems to satisfy the readers so far. Now, it's time to bring out the big guns for the climax of this war, as Otogakure's counter has started to put the Alliance in a difficult position. I really wanted to name the previous chapter '<strong>Oto Strikes Back<strong>' but I decided not to in the end :)

One thing of note, I know I kept calling Sasuke, or previously Orochimaru, Otokage. Technically, it is true that they aren't, since this title is reserved for the leaders of the Five Great Villages. Well, I guess it goes with the God complex they both seem to have developed so it's not that bad I hope.

Finally, I'm quite glad to announce that I have published my second story's first chapter, **Umi No Haoshoku**, look into my profile for more information about it. It's a quite different type of story from this one but I hope it will still have the same success this one is having so far. That said, now that I started writing the other story, I had a hard time to keep my concentration as I wrote this one again. My respect goes to those who manage several stories at the same time and release frequently, I now know that I couldn't.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 61 : Timeless Hatred<strong>

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Town Center<strong>

Alliance's members and Otogakure's soldiers stopped their fighting for a second as the leader of Oto himself joined the battlefield. Apparently, he was already in his ultimate form as well, with his EMS activated, scanning the crowd of ninja and Naruto's new position.

The break ended and the battle resumed quickly, as the defender's side was boosted by the arrival of their leader and master. With no reinforcement yet and no place to fall back to, the Alliance's forces were not in a favorable position.

Still trying to remain in their original formation, against the overwhelming number of soldiers from the enemy, they waited for Naruto, Bee and A to give them new orders. Speaking about those three, each had been assigned some tough opponents and their advance had been stopped for the moment.

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><p><strong>With the Raikage against Kimimaro and Juugo<strong>

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><p>Both Kimimaro and Juugo had their Cursed form activated, granting them tremendous amount of chakra and a great physical enhancement. In addition to that, they were working quite well as a pair, Juugo went for the close contact while Kimimaro covered him from behind with well placed attacks from his <strong>Dead Bone Pulse<strong> bloodline. Their teamwork was flawless and they had their speed highly improved by the use of their Cursed powers.

Against those two, the Raikage had to use the full extend of his godlike speed, in order to avoid a critical hit from either of the two transformed beings. Fortunately for him, he was still faster than them, however, their combined destructive power was at least on the same scale as his own.

The fight was quite balanced so far, the pair took some hits, due to their lower speed but they still managed to stand on their feet and the Raikage was slowly but surely using up all of his chakra reserves without taking out his resilient enemies. Still, the first one to come to that conclusion was A himself, using his superior battle experience, he knew he had to do something soon or the fight would not end well for him ...

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><p><strong>With Killer Bee against Suigetsu<strong>

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><p>Bee was quite surprised to see the <strong>Samehada<strong> again, in the hands of this young swordsman. Still, he was also wondering how this man thought he could have the slightest chance against him. While the youki drain would be somewhat annoying, it was nowhere close enough to defeat him.

"**Yo, are you sure your master sent you to the right place, boy ? The last holder of that sword couldn't even defeat me in my human form, what makes you think you could beat me in my bijuu state ?"** Bee probed his opponent, remembering his cocky behavior when he appeared.

"While Kisame was a great swordsman and had a load more chakra than me, he didn't use his head in your fight against him. Your current state really seems powerful, but in the current situation, it will also doom you against someone like me." Suigetsu replied, extending both arms sideways to feel the rain pouring down over them.

Bee had no time to wonder about his opponent's words as the silver haired swordsman jumped from his position towards him. Reacting on instinct, Bee launched one of his tentacle against Suigetsu, hoping to catch and squash him. Upon contact, he thought for a moment that he succeeded, only for Suigetsu's body to explode mid air, somehow like a water clone would.

"Didn't the Eighth Blade of Kiri tell you how our fight went ?" Suigetsu said as he instantly formed a new body from behind Bee and slashed the giant Octopus with the **Samehada**. His flesh wound started to heal, but a little bit slower than his usual regeneration speed.

"**Eighth Blade of Kiri ? Who the hell are you talking about, Yo ?"** Bee replied, trying to gain some time. That hit was nowhere strong enough to critically hurt him but a few more like that one, and even him would start to feel the strain. What made bijuu, or jinchuriki like him, especially resilient was their ability to rapidly use their large reserves of youki into heal themselves. Those attacks using the **Samehada** were doubly taxing against him, both hurting his physical form and draining away his regeneration powers.

"He's the one you are all calling **Kaze no Kami**, the only one so far to have beaten me. That was a surprise attack that decided the outcome of our match. It won't catch me off guard again, but, a loss is a loss. I defied him as a swordsman and, while he had no reason to accept, he did and beat me fair and square." Suigetsu told him, not missing the twitch in Bee's eyes when Naruto's moniker came out.

"_Damn it, I knew I should have stayed to that council meeting instead of going off to schedule my next concert ..."_ Bee thought as he remembered skipping the debriefing from Naruto's mission to Ame.

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><p><strong>With Naruto against Sasuke<strong>

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><p>Naruto didn't bother with the reactivation of his genjutsu since he knew Sasuke could follow his movements, using the disturbance in the flow of the rain to track him. Strangely enough, he also took notice of the lack of an air filtering mask in Sasuke's gear. That could only mean that he was either too arrogant to use the device, or that he had found a way to counter Naruto's jutsu. Either way Naruto decided to act first by launching a preemptive strike, he went through hand signs with an incredible speed of execution.<p>

"**Futon : Hakugei !"** Naruto yelled as he expelled a big gush of wind toward his opponent. He was surprised to see Sasuke, still not moving away from his spot, as the Uchiha smirked smugly at him. The wind wave washed over Sasuke's position and upon contact, it was instantly ignited, revealing some sort of **Katon** shield all over him nullifying Naruto's **Futon** jutsu. Seeing this counter, Naruto narrowed his eyes and tried to formulate a new plan in his mind.

"What's the matter ? Your puny jutsu failed to reach me, Dobe. Your offensive powers are nothing in comparison to **Susanoo**, my Ultimate defense. That being said, **Susanoo** can be used for offense as well ..." Sasuke bragged as the giant humanoid shadow shielding him started to move and a bow materialized out of nowhere in its hands. Leaving no time for Naruto to prepare himself, the giant shot an arrow at him with its bow.

Naruto instantly threw a **Hiraishin** kunai away and moved to it, only for a second arrow to fly toward his new position. With no time to use another **Hiraishin** movement, Naruto decided to changed the momentum of his trajectory.

"**Senpo : Ryu no Hada !"** He Shouted, deploying his dragon hybrid form with two wings growing out of his back and by so evading the second arrow Sasuke just shot at him.

"_He knew where to shoot his second arrow by tracking my **Hiraishin** kunai. That was pretty clever I guess, now, what can I do to reach him. Any wind based attack will be nullified thanks to his Fire defense. Let's try to test its physical resistance." _Naruto analyzed in his mind before jumping out again to avoid another arrow.

While still in the air, he summoned out another **Hiraishin** kunai and went through hand signs for the **Kage Kunai no Jutsu**. He then started to literally cover the whole battlefield with his **Hiraishin** markers, a solution against Sasuke predicting his next position, since he was only using one kunai for his movements up until now. Once his preparations done, Naruto reappeared in front of Sasuke and channeled chakra to his eyes to activate the **Ryugan**, his Sage Dragon Eyes, that allowed him to process fast moving objects.

"Let's see how absolute your defense really is then, shall we ? My dragons are born in and breathe out fire, there is no way you can burn my dragon parts." Naruto announced as he sent chakra to his dragon wings to strengthen them in anticipation for his next move.

"**Senpo : Sho Ryu Ha !"** Yelled the blond as he reappeared a few meters behind Sasuke. Not even a second later, a loud cracking sound was heard and a part of Sasuke's **Susanoo** was seen damaged by the contact with Naruto's new jutsu.

"So much for your invincible armor, Otokage-sama." Naruto said with a smirk. This time, Sasuke was the one who lost his confidence as he saw his Ultimate defense slowly reforming at the cost of some extra chakra. Naruto would not let him rest though, as he used the same jutsu again and again, moving from one side of the battlefield to the other with his godlike speed, using all the **Hiraishin** markers. Sasuke stood in the center of all this, helpless against the blond's assault, as his armor was relentlessly attacked from all side.

Once Naruto finally stopped, to see the result of his actions, the **Susanoo** was almost completely destroyed. Gone were the arms with the bow, the better part of the upper body had been damaged too, the only safe part was the head, since Naruto saw no point in targeting that area. Sasuke was seething in anger, forcing his chakra output to keep his defense up but knowing it was only a matter of time before Naruto went through it.

"What are you waiting for, you idiots, remove his damn kunai from the field !" Sasuke yelled at his men who had been staying at a safe distance from the fight up until now. The Zetsu clones and his mind controlled drones immediately moved forward on the battlefield, trying to obey their master but Naruto once again saw this coming and launched a counterattack.

"You really fight like a coward, Sasuke. To triumph without peril brings no glory ..." Naruto said as he channeled a large quantity of chakra to his wings for another jutsu.

"**Senpo : Hyaku Ryu Ha !"** He said as he then disappeared in a white flash. The difference with his previous technique was that this one allowed him to randomly travel from one marker to the other with no break until he reached one hundred jumps.

The thousand men who had tried to intrude on the battlefield stood no chance, as Naruto unleashed the upgraded version of his newest creation. The Dragon Hybrid Sage tore through everything in his path, leaving no one untouched, Sasuke included. The jutsu allowed Naruto to place the additional hits that were required in order to completely remove Sasuke's Ultimate defense.

The whole battlefield in the center of Amegakure froze. No sound was heard, as everyone stopped their actions to look at Uzumaki Naruto standing behind Uchiha Sasuke, holding his katana against his opponent's throat, ready to cut.

"With your death, the war will finally be over, Sasuke." Naruto said as his arm holding the katana started to move. However, at the exact same moment, an explosion right where they were standing shook the entire area. Naruto had to jumped away to one of his marker to avoid being caught in the explosion. When the dust cleared out, on the other side of the battlefield stood an old acquaintance. Tobi was there, holding a barely standing Sasuke.

"Akatsuki ..." Naruto said as he cursed his lack of judgment for delaying Sasuke's death. Tobi said nothing and simply allowed Sasuke to stand back up on his own. Sasuke had all the trouble in the world to stand on his own, having used up almost all of his chakra reserves. Furthermore, ever since his near death experience he had felt something strange happening to his eyes and had to close them to reduce the amount of pain he was currently feeling.

Once he finally reopened his eyes, he saw everyone around him surprised and starring at him for he was unaware that he had just unlocked the supreme doujutsu, the **Rinnegan**. When he finally saw his reflection in a nearby puddle of water, he was as astonished as the rest of the audience and allowed a smirk to appear on his tired face. He then turned his back to Tobi and looked at the still stunned Naruto.

"What took you so long, Tobi. I don't know how but I got this new power. I have no more chakra so I order you to ..." Sasuke started to say but never finished his sentence as an arm suddenly pierced his ribcage from behind.

"I take orders from no one, no even you, my other self." Tobi said as he removed his hand from Sasuke's corpse and took off his mask, showing the face of an older looking Sasuke with the **EMS** in one eye and the **Rinnegan** in the other one.

"Who … Why ?" Sasuke managed to say as he felt his life force leaving his body.

"I am you, the you from an alternate future reality. In my own original space time, I was about to lose against _him_ again, so I used an ultimate jutsu with the **Rinnegan** and **EMS** in order to travel back in time and erase his existence before he got a chance to become powerful again." He said taking a look at Naruto who was also listening to his tale.

"I managed with that jutsu to travel back to the day before his birth, however, it was not without a cost. I lost my **Rinnegan** in the process and only succeeded in preventing his parents from sealing a part of their chakra in his body. I thought this would have been enough to hold back his growth as a ninja, since in my universe, even with his parents sealed in him, until almost the end of the war, he was an useless orange wearing idiot that shouted over the rooftops that he would surely one day become the Hokage. Without them to protect him against the beast he had sealed in him, he was not supposed to become stronger." Tobi took a break again, as he started to channel medical chakra to his hands and bring them near Sasuke's eyes.

"The recoil from using the time traveling jutsu and my fight against his damn parents took a lot of me and forced me into hiding for a very long time. I never suspected that by my actions against his parents, this would trigger him meeting and bonding with the beast inside him to such a extend that he would become an even greater threat to me in this universe than he ever was in the previous one. To this day, I still don't know how the **Sharingan** naturally evolves into the **Rinnegan**, however, I tried to use the ones I stole from Nagato, his cousin. This just isn't the same and I can't use the full extend of my powers with them, so I waited and waited for you to become stronger and finally activate those eyes. Now that you did, I don't need to play this ridiculous Tobi or Madara part any longer." He finished as he finally took out the eyes of the dieing Sasuke and sealed one in a scroll while he implanted the other one in his own body. Losing no time, he threw away the corpse of his alternate self and started channeling chakra to his newly acquired **Rinnegan** eye.

As the effects of Sasuke's **Kotoamatsukami** wore off with the caster dead, the unfortunate victims across the battlefield stopped their actions, wondering where they were of what was happening. The clones also halted their attacks and remained unmoving, as were the Alliance's forces seeing their opponent's state. It was the same for Kimimaro, Juugo, Suigetsu and Kabuto, seeing the death of their leader completely took them off guard. Everyone was now waiting for what would happen next between Naruto and this mysterious Sasuke from the future.

"Finally, we find ourselves face to face again, both at the peek of our powers. I've seen you fight my younger self and I know you didn't even use one third of your true powers. I originally planned to kill you before you could become a threat to me again, but, fate has deemed that we would face each other again in this lifetime. Granted, you weren't this powerful nor did you use all those wind based move in my reality. I'll show you how the true Uchiha Sasuke fights, however, I don't want anyone to jump in and interfere with this fight so brace yourself and hold on a moment." Sasuke said.

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><p><strong>(AN : From now on Sasuke means the 'older/alternate' one. The young one is dead for good, may he forever burn in the deepest pit of hell ...)**

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><p>Using his gravitational powers he pulled himself off the ground and started to float in the sky, moving towards the center of the tower and rising in height. From the outer battlefield where she was stationed, Konan's eyes widened at the sight and she used her radio emitter to signal to the entire Alliance's forces what was going to happen.<p>

"**To all Alliance's personal, the enemy is going to use a devastating detonating jutsu that will vaporize the better part of the city, I repeat, imminent massive explosion in the center of the city. Fall back immediately, you won't survive the blast, I repeat, full retreat now !"** She yelled over the radio emitter she had.

It was pure chaos, as not only the Alliance's troops but also the city defenders heard her broadcast. Gaara's group immediately used everything they could to evacuate as many people as they could. Natsuki and Yugito already being outside the walls ordered a full scale retreat of their troops, they were also followed by some former Oto converted troops.

The true problem was for those who came into the city using the underground path. They were now trapped inside with no way out and no time to reach the walls. With no other solution, they tried to reach the sewers again, praying that they wouldn't be buried alive under the ruins of the city. Naruto felt responsible for their fate and was about to attempt something when A appeared behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We came here knowing the risks, Naruto. Let me and Bee worry about our troops safety, you just stay focused on this guy. If there is one person who can defeat him, it's you and only you. If what he said is true, you already beat him once in the past, err future, err, whatever. Do your best, we believe in you." A said before joining the troops with Bee.

As Sasuke reached his desired height and channeled enough chakra, he stopped moving and spread his arms wide open before looking back toward Naruto.

"Too late, **Shinra Tensei !**" He yelled as everything turned white.

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><p><strong>AN : **What did you think of it ?

Now this is the one twist I was referring to, in the previous chapter. It has always been part of the plot and I hope I won't get too much flame about it from Sasuke haters, with this new "_power up_" for "_him_".

Give me impressions, feedback, I hope I can take everything, positive or negative.

I thought I could conclude everything before the epilogue in this chapter but with my length format, I could only reach up to this point. I guess the real final chapter before the epilogue will be the next one.

Once again, please give my second story a chance, you can read its first chapter by following my profile. It really helps to have lots of feedback in the starting chapters of a story.

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><p><strong>New Jutsu : <strong>_Yep, still making up new jutsu until the very end :)_

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><p><strong>Senpo : Sho Ryu Ha<strong>, translates as Sage Arts, Supreme Dragon Flight. A combination move using Naruto's Dragon Sage form with the Hiraishin speed. Naruto moves to a marker and shreds everything in his path using his sharp and highly resistant wings.

**Senpo : Hyaku Ryu Ha**, translates as Sage Arts, One Hundred Supreme Dragon Flight. Upgraded version of the **Sho Ryu Ha**, instead of moving toward one marker, Naruto uses first the Kage kunai jutsu, to place a lot more markers on the ground and then randomly jumps from one marker to the other one hundred times with no break.

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><p>Well, the names for those jutsu come from another manga, a cookie to the first one to guess which.<p> 


	62. Final Clash

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>Things went better than I expected them to, with the final twist of having Tobi as a Sasuke coming from an alternate future dimension. Responses went from genuinely surprised to positive with the exception of one really negative opinion about this. So thanks for your support and I'll try to reply here to the one who found this bad, granted all question asked do have a certain merit.<p>

First thing asked was why would Sasuke let baby Naruto live when he could have killed him and be done with it. Well, I did say he had to fight Minato and Kushina in order to get close and already used some chakra in order to control Natsuki into attacking Konoha. The result of that fight left him severely injured, but he still managed to prevent Naruto's parents from sealing their memory into their son. With his superior God complex personality, he felt that was enough to hold Naruto back and also counted on Kyuubi or Natsuki not being so cooperative with Naruto. Let me remind you that Naruto kept all his powers concealed until he was already quite powerful and able to fend for himself.

Another slight misconception is the time paradox theory. I also knew this would be come out along the road by those who would not approve of this. So I tried to defuse the situation beforehand, by repeatedly adding the 'alternate universe' words but I can understand why it still came out. Very well my theory for this, is that every choice of action one individual makes creates a new reality that is unique among an infinite possibility of parallel universes, and as such, a future Sasuke coming back in time and doing the things he did, doesn't create a paradox or tear in the space time continuum. Well, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, so I can understand if we don't see eye to eye on this.

The other things he said were more about the fighting scenes than the time travel plot twist itself, so I'll leave them aside.

Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 62 : Final Clash<strong>

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><p><strong>Amegakure – Outskirts of the City<strong>

As the blinding light created by Sasuke's jutsu died down, those lucky enough to have evacuated the city in time tried to gather themselves with their companions. The **Shinra Tensei** took out the better part of the Zetsu clones army, having no sense of self conservation, they didn't try to leave the city when hell broke out. Those programmed by the **Kotoamatsukami** were lost, not understanding the situation and their presence on that battlefield.

The Alliance's main forces, on the contrary, only took minimal time to reform their lines, with the rest of the group under Gaara's command joining them. Natsuki and Yugito, under her normal form again, were already in charge. Gaara left Mei and Kurotsuchi leading their group to safety while he tried to fly over the city and see the extend of the damage.

Kabuto, Otogakure's Second in command himself, surrounded by the enemy had no other choice but to surrender. Not that he would have continue to serve this "new" Sasuke, as the bastard just tried to kill them all with his last jutsu and had been using them in the shadows since who knows when. He was quickly put under physical and chakra restrain and extracted to a safer zone until further notice.

Seeing the outcome of the battle, Tsunade quickly summoned Katsuyu, the Slug summoning boss. The medics were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of injured people they had to treat and the arrival of Tsunade's slugs was very welcomed. The blonde Hokage only hoped her knucklehead of a surrogate son was alright.

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><p><strong>Above the city, with Gaara<strong>

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><p>The Kazekage was floating in the sky, using a small amount of controlled sand. The damage done to the city was tremendous, nothing was left of the former city of Amegakure. Only ruins and rubble remained where houses and high towers used to stand only a few minutes ago.<p>

As he came closer to the ground level, Gaara saw that Naruto was apparently unharmed, same could obviously be said about Sasuke. Both of them were starring at each other in the center of the city. Seeing no movement there, Gaara decided to search for the other members of the underground expedition group. He looked for the hole where they came from and was surprised to see a partly burnt Killer Bee, still in his bijuu state, covering the hole with his body.

The jinchuriki was not alone, his brother, the Raikage was with him, trying to put away the rubble that was crushing his brother's body. It looked like they used Bee's form to absorb the blast from Sasuke's jutsu. Even though he suffered no critical damage, Bee was still injured and it took a lot of him to sustain the strength behind the **Shinra Tensei** in an attempt to cover their group's retreat.

Countless dead bodies were washed away by the blast, mostly Otogakure's forces. Gaara tried to locate the higher staff of Sasuke's former army, namely Kimimaro, Juugo and Suigetsu but failed to find their bodies.

With his preliminary recon mission over, Gaara took off again and left the city in order to go inform the other Kage of their precious people's whereabouts and status. Most likely those from Kumo and Konoha would be pleased to know that Naruto, A and Bee were alive. Now, the rest was left up to Naruto, once again as the Alliance's beacon of hope against the threat that the Uchiha represents.

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><p><strong>Ground Zero, with Naruto and Sasuke<strong>

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><p>Everything around them for a mile had been pushed away by the <strong>Shinra Tensei<strong>, leaving an empty and plain field for the two of them to fight it out. From the result of this final battle, the fate of the Elemental Nations would be sealed. Whether good or bad, the end was close now. On one side, in his white clothing stood Uzumaki Naruto, Champion of Light. On the other side in the black clothes was Uchiha Sasuke, Avatar of the Darkness.

From a corner of his eyes, Naruto also looked for A and Bee as Gaara just did. He was relieved to see them both alive, albeit injured, but still breathing. He could now focus all his attention to this character, an Uchiha Sasuke, apparently coming from a future version of this world. The tale he heard from the man was still fresh in his mind, all his life, everything that made him go through hell in his early years up to the point where he found love, had been a consequence of that man's actions.

If what this Sasuke said is true, he should have met with both his parents when he tampered with the **Shiki Fuujin** seal holding back Natsuki. That, unfortunately for him, never happened and he was quite sad to learn that he missed the chance to meet Minato and Kushina in this lifetime. However, something else came to him while lost in his thoughts, his meeting and bonding with Natsuki was also an indirect effect of that man playing with the timeline. Naruto didn't know nor did he wanted to know if he had had another chance for Love in that alternate universe where he and Natsuki weren't this close, for he already felt like the happiest man on Earth to have found such a mate.

The blond was still in his Dragon Sage form, with his wings deployed and his **Ryugan** activated. There was only one **Hiraishin** kunai left, the one he just used in order to escape the blast since all the other ones had been blown away. Naruto decided to attempt the same strategy he just used in his previous fight against Sasuke, going through hand signs he once again covered the battlefield with his markers in preparation for his attack.

"**Senpo : Sho Ryu Ha !"** He yelled as he took off toward his opponent. However, instead of simply standing there and counting on his shield, Sasuke performed his own space time ninjutsu. The Uchiha disappeared shortly, only to reappear a moment later in Naruto's path and then, with a well placed high kick, the raven haired warrior intercepted and kicked the blond away. All this happened in less than a millisecond, but to those two, it was almost a normal speed. Nevertheless, Naruto was surprised, his jutsu had just been countered and he also took a nasty hit at full speed.

"Did you really think that it would be as easy as it was against my younger counterpart ? Let me remind you that you aren't the first one to have used the **Hiraishin** against me in a fight. I've studied that jutsu and came up with my own version of it, you won't be able to reach me with such pitiful attempts." Sasuke said with a smirk before channeling chakra to his body and summoning his own version of the **Susanoo**.

In addition a the small crossbow it already had, this one also carried a sword in its free hand. What made it really dangerous though, were the blazing black flames that were covering its whole body. The previous version only presented some purple flames, not these dark one from the ever famous **Amaterasu**. Without waiting for his opponent to regain his composure, Sasuke immediately went on the offensive and started to fire arrows coated with those dark flames toward Naruto.

The blond managed to avoid the first arrow, once again thanks to the several **Hiraishin** markers set all around the field. However, this version of **Susanoo** could continuously fire arrows at him and he had to continue dodging for a while, making it hard for him to concentrate on formulating a battle plan to counter his enemy.

"_Damn, his attacks are much faster than with the previous version of that jutsu, gotta concentrate one hit of that attack and I'm dead. His first counter may have surprised me but I'm still faster than him, all I have to do is to remain focused and I'll be alright. If only I could use my genjutsu skills against him, that's the one thing he has no counter against, but that damn rain is making it easy for him to follow me ..."_ Naruto analyzed in his mind, as he evaded another flaming arrow coming his way. However, in the middle of his move his eyes suddenly widened, as he finally thought of a counter that might actually work against Sasuke.

"What's the matter, Dobe ? Is running away all you can do ?" Sasuke taunted as he saw the blond evading another arrow. This Sasuke had a lot more chakra than his younger self so he could still go on for a while before worrying about his reserves.

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><p><strong>With the Alliance's Leaders<strong>

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><p>When Gaara reported the situation inside the ruined city of Amegakure to his fellow Kage, they decided to move closer in order to provide help to Naruto if he ever needed it. With the situation outside the walls now under control, they also sent help to the underground tunnels, led by Konan and Yugito, in order to rescue whoever was still trapped there.<p>

Tsunade, Mei, Kurotsuchi, Gaara and Natsuki were the only Alliance's warriors allowed on scene. Some other high ranking shinobi were left in charge of the cleaning up, as **Sharingan** no Kakashi from the Leaf or Zabuza, the Demon from the Mist.

As the group reached the city's walls, they were greeted with a vision they would forever remember. Sasuke's new and improved version of the **Susanoo** repeatedly firing flaming arrows toward Naruto who was skillfully evading them using the **Hiraishin** jutsu. This was a battle above Kage level and they all knew none of them had what it take to get in there.

Nevertheless, looking at the flow of the battle they knew from experience that Naruto was currently under pressure and on the defensive while Sasuke had the momentum and was on the offensive. All had, at some point in their lives, witnessed Naruto's strength and it was really impressive to see the blond struggle against his opponent.

Natsuki wanted to come closer but was prevented from doing so by Tsunade who knew better than to let the emotional red head distract Naruto, in the middle of the most important fight of his life. With no other choice, the group stayed there and continued to watch the battle from afar, praying for Naruto's success.

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><p><strong>Back with Naruto<strong>

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><p>Naruto swiftly moved away from Sasuke, trying to create some distance between them and then immediately went through a familiar series of hand signs before slamming his right hand on the ground.<p>

"**Ninpo : Kuchiyose no Jutsu !"** He yelled as a large cloud of smoke was generated. Seconds later, Ryuoh, the Dragon King, appeared next to him. He was Naruto's only dragon that had yet to enter this war, since all the other ones had been summoned for the aerial strike team. Ryuoh was a special case though and could only work with the true contract's summoner, Naruto.

"**What have you called me for, Naruto ? Most of my subjects have already gone back home and told me that you and your allies were about to win this war."** The Dragon Leader said he starred at the deserted ruins of Amegakure.

"That's partially true, the only one left to beat is that guy. However, he uses some nasty fire based attacks with the black flames of **Amaterasu**. You're the only one who could withstand those, that's the reason why I summoned you." Naruto replied while pointing Sasuke. He then did a new hand signs and called another jutsu.

"**Futon : Kyouka Suigetsu."** Naruto calmly announced as he disappeared from Sasuke's sight. The Uchiha could somehow still see the general layout of Naruto's body, thanks to the rain streaming around the blond. Naruto then started to speak with Ryuoh, but, in this state Sasuke could not use his **Sharingan** to read the blond's lips and consequently had no idea of what they were discussing.

The black dragon suddenly took off and started to quickly launch black fireballs towards his target, surprising Sasuke, and in the confusion, he completely lost track of Naruto's position. Sasuke tried to scan his surroundings with no success, as the blond really had taken advantage of the situation to disappear. He used his **Susanoo** to fire arrows at Ryuoh but the Elder Dragon had the same **Ryugan** eyes Naruto had and easily avoided the attacks. Furthermore, the **Amaterasu** had no effect against him, as the one dragon who breathes dark flames himself.

Ryuoh suddenly rose higher in the sky and finally got out of Sasuke firing range. As soon as he was in the safe zone, he started to bombard the Uchiha with powerful fireballs, destroying even more the already ruined Amegakure. Sasuke cursed since he couldn't move from the ground as long as he had his **Susanoo** activated. Seeing the black flames from the Dragon King coming closer to him, he had no other choice but to jump out, temporary shutting off his ultimate defense jutsu. No human being was impervious to those flames, he could control and extinguish his own flames at will, however he had no control over those from an external source.

As soon as the **Susanoo** was disabled, Sasuke felt the wind output increase all around his body and not a second later, he felt a great deal of pain as something pierced him from the back, right next to his shoulder. Turning his head backward, Sasuke tracked the attack back to a small shadow located by the broken form of the former Kage Tower. This was a place where the rain couldn't reach and the perfect spot for Naruto to hide himself in, more than a mile away from him.

"**Futon : Kamishini no Yari."** Naruto said as he revealed himself, holding his katana and pointing it toward Sasuke. The Uchiha fell to the ground, with blood leaking from a corner of his mouth, the likely result from some internal bleeding. Losing no time, Naruto moved himself on top of Ryuoh using the **Hiraishin** and then, both the Dragon King and his summoner launched a new jutsu at their downed target.

"**Futon : Dai Ten'Ka Furyu En'Dan !"** Naruto said, as he and Ryuoh launched a combined attack composed by his partner's black flames and his wind dragon jutsu to fuel them. The result from their collaboration jutsu was a blazing black wind dragon flying down on the still unmoving Sasuke. The Uchiha couldn't get away, too distracted by the pain he felt to use his space time jutsu, he brought a hand to his bleeding mouth as the torrent of dark flame fell on him.

Naruto's attack created a lot of smoke as it touched the ground, seeing that Sasuke didn't have the time to run away, he was hoping this last attempt was good enough. The flames died down pretty quickly, contrary to Amaterasu they didn't have the ability to burn for days without a proper source to fuel them. Once the scene was cleared, Naruto was surprised to see the burnt remains of Manda, the boss of the Snake summoning contract and the only creature Anko never tried to summon.

"**How dare you use me like this, Uchiha. You will pay for this ..."** The Snake Lord died in the middle of his sentence, succumbing to the full extend of his injuries from Naruto's jutsu, coiled on himself. Once Manda died, part of himself rolled off, revealing Sasuke and six shadows, protected from Naruto's technique by the several layers of Manda's burnt flesh. The blond's eyes widened as he saw the **Rinnegan** in their eyes but the most surprising thing was their identity, for in front of him stood Jiraiya, Itachi, Danzo, Orochimaru, Kisame and Nagato.

Naruto knew from the reports of the infiltration mission in Ame that Sasuke had the bodies of Itachi and Danzo, Orochimaru and Kisame's presence weren't such a surprise either. This was not the first time he would have to face an opponent with the famed eyes from the Sage of the Six Paths, but, to go against his own teacher was not something he would have ever seen himself doing. Furthermore, he was not expecting to fight his cousin Nagato again either. All in all, Sasuke had assembled a very dangerous group of individuals as the members of his Paths.

"_One thing is certain, from my first fight with Nagato, I can tell that they are all already dead, feel no pain and have no emotions whatsoever. They are controlled using the **Rinnegan** and share a common vision field. I'll have to disable that link between them, if I am to remain in this game, as there is no way I could face those six at the same time ..."_ Naruto thought from his position on top of Ryuoh.

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><p><strong>With the Observers<strong>

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><p>"Jiraiya … To see you again like this." Tsunade couldn't hold back her tears from seeing Jiraiya again, of course she knew of the <strong>Rinnegan<strong> and how the wielder could control the dead in order to do his bidding. It pained her to see the Toad Sage used like this, an empty vessel with no mind of its own.

"Leave me alone, you cowards, he needs my help !" Natsuki had to be restrained by Gaara and his sand, otherwise she would have jumped into the fight. The sight of all those S-Ranked shinobi, teaming up against her mate was more than she could handle. No matter how strong he is, it wasn't fair for him to fight them on his own when there were four other Kage watching this battle.

The Kage were all ashamed to admit that the best they could do for Naruto right now, was to not interfere in his fight. With Natsuki's or their presence of the field, the blond would not be able to unleash his most destructive jutsu, and those were currently the only means to defeat Sasuke.

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>The "drones" lost no time and immediately started to attack the blond and his dragon. Orochimaru summoned the <strong>Kusanagi<strong> and tried to pierce Ryuoh with it, only for the dragon to swiftly evade it, thanks to his **Ryugan** eyes.

Itachi and Danzo used a combo attack, Itachi fired a **Gokakyu** while Danzo increased that jutsu's power by infusing his **Shinku Taigyoku** into it. Naruto had to jump off Ryuoh while the dragon took the giant fireball straight on, receiving no damage since he was immune to fire.

As soon as Naruto left his summon, he was pulled toward the ground by Nagato's **Bansho Ten'in**. It was to risky to come in close contact with Nagato, so the blond decided to flash away toward the closest **Hiraishin** marker he had on the ground.

Unfortunately for him, as soon as he reappeared, the ground bellow him started to sink, signaling Jiraiya's signature **Yomi Numa** trap. Naruto barely managed to see what was happening around him when Kisame appeared out of nowhere and tried to decapitate him using the **Samehada** that Suigetsu left on the field when the explosion destroyed Ame.

Ryuoh pulled Naruto out of the swamp jutsu just in time to avoid Kisame's hit and quickly flew to a higher height without looking back. That was very close, one second later and the blond would have lost his head in that combined attack by Jiraiya and Kisame.

"**Are you alright, Naruto ? This is your former sensei, will you be able to fight against him and really give it your all ?"** Ryuoh asked the blond.

"Don't worry, I'm not scared to face him right now. Quite the opposite in fact, it is my duty as his student to not let the Uchiha use him that way. I'm not even sure if there's still a part of his soul in that body down there, the last time I faced the Six Paths, they were like soulless drones." Naruto replied.

"**Very well, how do you want to do this ? Even you can't fight them all on your own, we need a solid plan to win this."** The dragon king said, remembering their first contact with the Paths.

"There is only one path left, I have one last jutsu I can use against them that will ensure our victory. The reason why I didn't use it up until now is because I'll only have one shot at it before my chakra reserves are completely depleted." Naruto told Ryuoh.

"**What can I do to help you ?"** His summon asked.

"I need to stand still for a definite amount of time while I channel my chakra for that jutsu. I'll need to stay concealed within my genjutsu field for that, but, with the rain it's easy for them to track me. We need to find a way to temporary stop the rain, I don't suppose you can do something like this ?" Naruto said.

"**I can't, water is not really my field of expertise, but I know the one for this."** Ryuoh said as he reverse summoned another familiar dragon, Hyorinmaru. The ice dragon was quickly briefed on his mission and lost no time as he immediately rose higher in the sky above them.

During all this, Sasuke had managed to heal himself from the cut he received earlier. He was furious that Naruto had once again managed to escape, even the Six Paths weren't enough to finish him. All were currently scanning the sky, trying to anticipate Naruto's next move, when something changed. The air suddenly felt much colder and the rain instantly stopped. This was unheard of in Ame, for the rain to stop like this, was not something that happened in hundreds of years. Snow started to fall but the strange thing is that it didn't fell inside the city, only around it. Sasuke's eyes widened at this, it could only be Naruto's work, meaning the blond was somewhere around them already, hidden in his genjutsu field.

A large fireball, launched by Ryuoh, forced Sasuke and his Paths to move closer to the center of the city. Seven pairs of Sharingan and Rinnegan were scanning the surroundings in order to detect the slightest movement from Naruto, but without the rain it was now impossible for them to locate him.

"This is the end, Sasuke." Naruto suddenly said, as he appeared right in the middle of where Sasuke and his Paths had jumped off to after avoiding the fireball from Ryuoh. Fuinjutsu markings started to appear on the ground, all around them in a one hundred meter wide circle range.

"**Uzumaki Zenjutsu : Hifujin no Jutsu !"** Naruto yelled as time stopped inside the field he just created and he once again became one with the wind.

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><p><strong>AN : **That's it for now, tell me what you thought of this chapter. As usual, please read and review.

Whole chapter dedicated to the final clash between Naruto and Sasuke. Next chapter is the final one and will cover the end of this fight as well as the epilogue. For the choices of those Six Paths, don't start to flame me about their identities. Tobi / Sasuke had all the time in the world to collect all their bodies while everyone was busy with the war.

Now about the **Hifujin**, yes, that's the same move he used to defeat Nagato. I said at the time that it wasn't a ninjutsu and that I was looking for a better term to define it. Being the combination of all aspects of the shinobi skills I decided to name that family **Zenjutsu**, 'Zen' being the term for "all".

**Uzumaki Zenjutsu Hifujin** would be translated as Uzumaki Omni Arts : Flying Wind God.

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><p>On a side note, things seem to go well for my other story since its first chapter destroyed my record of number reviews per chapter with 29 reviews so far. Kaze no Kami had at most 25 reviews for the chapter 45. I guess I should be proud that my second work is doing great. Thanks for your support, since I know most of those reviews came from my regular readers for this story.<p> 


	63. New Era

**A/N**: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.

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><p>This chapter marks the end of my first story, six months have already passed since the first chapter was released. I still remember the joy after reading my first positive review, the first flame and so on … This has really been a wonderful experience.<p>

I know some of you asked for a sequel to this, but I'm not too sure about this, at least not right now. As you may already know, my second story's first chapter is up. I really can't focus on two projects at the same time, it wouldn't serve either of the story well. Nevertheless, never say never, so who knows, maybe Kaze no Kami will get a sequel one day …

So once again, thanks all for your patience and support throughout this adventure. I hope I'll see you all on my second story as well, if not then maybe on another future project.

**Please consider posting a farewell review, if you liked this story or part of it.**

Anyway, welcome to the final chapter of Kaze No Kami.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.

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><p><strong>Chapter 63 : New Era<strong>

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><p><strong>Amegakure – City Walls<strong>

The noise coming from within the city, due to the repeated use of higher level ninjutsu in the fight between Naruto and Sasuke, suddenly ceased just like the rain that stopped falling all around them. Not even the sound of the wind blowing inside the deserted city could be heard as Naruto launched his jutsu.

The Kage were impressed by this unnatural phenomenon, most of them had read the reports from Naruto's battle against Nagato, the other **Rinnegan** wielder, in front of Sunagakure. They heard he had an ultimate technique that even transcended the **Hiraishin**, however, seeing it with their own eyes was really something else.

"Tsunade, is that the **Hifujin** ?" They were all pulled out of their thoughts by the arrival of both A and Killer Bee, as the Raikage was the one who asked Tsunade the question. Bee was back in his human form, healed but pretty much worn out from the overuse of youki and taking the **Shinra Tensei** head on.

"I don't really know, I have only heard vague descriptions of that technique from him. This is my first time seeing it and even for Natsuki, who was not there at that time, it's a first as well." The blonde replied without looking away from the battlefield.

True to her words, Natsuki, Naruto's mate and the one who taught him the most including the skills for his wind bloodline, was mesmerized. The red head had a millennium of experience in using the bloodline she gave Naruto and even she was impressed with his genius mind when it came to jutsu creation. She had never felt the need to further develop her skills beyond the standard level that she taught Naruto, as she never had anyone to call a rival or her equal.

The Alliance's leaders knew they were the witnesses of a battle that would mark this timeline. Just as the fight between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha marked a new beginning in the shinobi world, this one would also be the beginning of a new era in the shinobi world.

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><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

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><p>As soon as the fuinjutsu markings appeared on the ground, Naruto disappeared again from within the circle. A gush of condensed wind suddenly appeared all around the bodies of the Six Paths, forcing them to instantly leap away in six different directions before everything went silent.<p>

They were still trying to use their eyes in order to locate the blond but failed to do so. For the six of them, even using the **Rinnegan**, there was nothing else inside that perimeter than them and Sasuke. However, what surprised Sasuke, the one controlling the Six Paths, was that their five senses seemed to be failing them.

At the exact same time, the bodies of the Six Paths were attacked by an unknown force. This could only mean that it was indeed Naruto, still using his genjutsu tricks, but the most curious thing was that they could feel nothing other than their own injuries caused by this unknown source.

No sight, no sound, no smell, no feeling of what was attacking them could be identified, it was as if time itself had stopped within the field. The only indication of Naruto's presence was the constant damage the Six Paths were taking as the wind was shredding their bodies into smaller pieces.

Quickly enough, the only two remaining inside the time trap were Naruto and Sasuke. The Uchiha had managed to once again escape Naruto's attack by moving out of phase with his own space time technique as soon as he saw the Paths getting destroyed by the blond.

However, as he tried to escape from Naruto's field he ran into a dead end. When he reached the limit of the field, his phase shifting jutsu failed and allowed Naruto to instantly locate and force him back toward the center. Naruto remembered a conversation he had with Konan about Tobi's abilities and how she had originally planned to fight against the man.

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><p><em><span>Flashback<span> : One week after the spying mission in Ame_

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><p><em>Naruto, Kurenai and Konan had just finished the debriefing from their mission in Amegakure. They were still in River Country, which had just been conquered back from Otogakure by Gaara and his forces.<em>

_They rented rooms in a small hotel, it was only temporary as they were to be redeployed quite soon. Kurenai had gone to sleep while Konan and Naruto were still discussing the events that took place in Amegakure._

"_Konan, what can you tell me about that Tobi or Madara guy ?" Naruto asked._

"_Not much, I'm afraid. He mostly talked with Nagato and I've never even seen his face. He called himself Uchiha Madara, one of the two leaders of the founding clans from Konohagakure." Konan replied._

"_Do you know about his abilities, I'm mostly interested in that space time jutsu of his. It seems more versatile than the one my father created, even though it's quite slower. I'll need to find a way around it, if we are to one day face each other on the battlefield." Naruto explained._

"_Before you came to save me, I originally planned to defeat him using my observation of his phase shifting jutsu. Once he launches this move, he cannot be harmed for as long as he keeps that jutsu active. However, for him to harm you, he needs to phase back into our plane of existence. That's the moment where he is vulnerable. From what Nagato and I were able to assess, he can keep the jutsu up for about five minutes at best. My first plan was to trap him in a containment field with enough exploding tags for a five full minutes of detonations." Konan told him of her previous plan to defeat Tobi if it came down to it._

"_Five minutes uh ..." Naruto mused out loud as he made his way outside the hotel toward a training ground instead of going to sleep as Konan and Kurenai did.  
><em>

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><p><em><span>Flashback End<span>_

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><p>When Naruto used the <strong>Hifujin<strong> for the first time, against Nagato, everything happened so fast since he had already individually defeated the Six Paths. The jutsu wasn't meant to remain active for so long when Naruto had developed it in the first place.

However, at the time he had just released Natsuki from the seal and was still in the process of taking full control of his gigantic youki reserves. It took him some time and lots of effort but he somehow managed to extend the time he could keep the jutsu up.

Sasuke made a total of three attempts to leave the field and each time he collided with the invisible barrier Naruto had set up. Each failed attempt had allowed Naruto to deliver severe injuries to his opponent. After his second attempt failed, Sasuke even tried to phase back inside the field in order to launch a **Katon** jutsu around him and counter Naruto's wind mode. That also failed miserably, as the Uchiha never even had the time to channel chakra to his lungs that Naruto was already on him, giving him another injury.

It had been four minutes since Sasuke's last appearance and Naruto had already kept his field active for five minutes. This was the best the blond ever managed to reach in training, but he knew he had to keep on going. Sasuke, for his part, had already sustained several critical hits on his body and the next one would probably kill him too.

It was now a race against time between the two, on one hand if Naruto was the first one to concede and break his containment field, Sasuke would get a last chance to kill the blond since the blond would be too tired to even fight back, or the Uchiha could also escape, albeit severely injured but still able to live and fight another day. On the other hand though, if Sasuke was the one to phase back in first, with his five minutes jutsu coming to an end, then Naruto would be the one to kill his opponent with his force field still active.

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><p><strong>With the Kage<strong>

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><p>Ever since the battle had reached the state where Naruto launched his <strong>Hifujin<strong>, the Kage, Bee and Natsuki had the hardest time to follow the fight between Naruto and Sasuke. To them, after seeing the Paths being defeated by an invisible force, the field looked completely empty.

The only exceptions to that were when Sasuke tried to escape from the circle thrice, and also when he attempted to phase back inside and launch a jutsu. Other than that, absolute silence was all they could get from that fight.

Tsunade had been sad and relieved at the same time to see that Jiraya's body ceased moving. This was for the best, so now she and Natsuki were praying for Naruto's safe return among them. They had been joined by the highest ranking officers from their army, for Kakashi, Gai, Anko, Kurenai, Karin and Konan from the Leaf had joined Tsunade's side. Yugito, Darui, C as well as Samui and her team from Kumogakure had also joined the Raikage and Bee. Most of those powerful warriors had come here to witness the end of Naruto's fight.

The snow, right outside the walls of the city of Amegakure suddenly ceased to fall, only for the rain to start pouring down on them all over again. The sounds from the wind blowing and the rain falling down on the ground could also be heard again from within the city. This could only mean one thing, the fight was over and, for better or for worse, a winner had been decided.

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><p><strong>Center of the City<strong>

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><p>In the center of the ruined city of Amegakure, laid the bodies of both Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, as the rain was streaming over them. Naruto's dragon summons had long gone back to their realm when the blond used up all his chakra reserves.<p>

Natsuki was the first on scene, as she managed to slip out of Gaara's restrains when the Kazekage temporary lost his focus, with the rain suddenly falling down on them again. The vixen was scared to death when she saw Naruto's unmoving body on the ground.

She rushed to him, only to see that he was still breathing and just unconscious. Tears of happiness rolled down from her eyes as she held her mate in her arms. He had a nasty injury right above his heart but it wasn't life threatening and he would live with the appropriate treatment.

They were soon joined by all the other observers, who were amazed by the damage taken by the city from Naruto's and Sasuke's fight. Tsunade quickly stabilized Naruto and patched him up for Natsuki to bring him back to their home.

She then went to see Jiraiya's downed form while Konan went to look after Nagato's, both had been relatively kept intact, despite taking Naruto's most powerful jutsu. Most likely, a final act of loyalty from Naruto to his late master or to his cousin. It had been especially visible once compared to the remains from Orochimaru, Danzo, Itachi or Kisame, Naruto had been merciless with them, as they could barely be identified.

Once the Alliance's members made sure their hero was alive, they looked at Sasuke's body. The Uchiha had multiple injuries all over his body, all from taking on Naruto's space time technique. The most noticeable ones were the gaping holes in his chest cavity, right where his heart was supposed to be, as well as in his eyes. It seems that Naruto had made sure to extract what made Sasuke such a threat to everyone, his **Rinnegan** and **Sharingan** eyes.

Looking all around them, no one could find where the blond had put those two powerful eyes away, maybe he just destroyed them, they would have to wait for him to wake up to learn more about that. For now, all they could do was to leave this cursed place and go home to their loved ones, for the war was finally over.

Thus ended the Fourth Great Shinobi War, where the combined forces of the Five Great Villages fought against a common threat, Otogakure and its leader, Uchiha Sasuke. The Hero of this war, Uzumaki Naruto, was also the Leader of that Alliance. Naruto was the one who ended this war, by fighting and killing the man responsible for all of this.

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><p><strong>Timeskip – Six Years Later<br>**

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><p>" … and this is how daddy managed to win against the man with those powerful eyes and put an end to the Shinobi War." Naruto finished his tale, as he held his six year old daughter on his lap.<p>

"Sugoi daddy ! Please tell me another story from your adventures with mommy." The young girl pleaded with her father. Naruto chuckled at this, it was really difficult for him to say no to her.

"I'm sorry Kushina, but it's getting late and your mom doesn't like it when you stay up late." Naruto replied as he put his daughter in her bed. Kushina was born six months after the war ended, she was named after her grandmother, since the former jinchuriki also represented the link between Naruto and Natsuki, it felt right to name their daughter after her.

Natsuki's pregnancy had been found pretty late, since the vixen had no prior knowledge about those things. Naruto was the happiest man alive when Tsunade and Natsuki gave him the news. Their wedding came right after that, as Naruto was set on marrying Natsuki before she gave birth to their unborn child.

The ceremony was presided by Sarutobi Hiruzen himself, it took place in Konohagakure, on top of the Hokage monument. Guests and friends from all over the Elemental Nations came to attend the wedding, as Naruto was the most famous shinobi in the world.

Obviously, the Five Kage were there as well. However Naruto was quite surprised, or maybe he half expected it since he was the one who teased them the most about it, when Gaara brought Kurotsuchi as his date for the wedding.

Everyone in Konohagakure was happy for their Hero, his friends, the shinobi and civilians. There was one person that missed the wedding though, not that she could be called a friend to him, they still grew up and went to the academy together. Haruno Sakura was executed, three months after the war ended. No matter how hard the Civilian Council protested, this was a shinobi matter and that decision had been made during an Alliance's meeting, with all the other Kage attending no less.

Sasuke's other accomplices that also followed him without the use of the brainwashing technique were sentenced to death as well. Kabuto had been captured during the siege while Juugo, Suigetsu and Kimimaro were found half dead in the ruins of Amegakure.

Tsunade had been sad by the death of someone she once loved like a daughter. She decided to take a short vacation to gather herself, and in her stead, she named Naruto her temporary replacement. It was a good training for him if he ever wanted to succeed her in that position. This only lasted for a few months, since she promised the blond she would take care of Natsuki's health monitoring with the pregnancy.

Naruto was pulled out of his memories when he heard the front door of his house opening. He left his daughter's room and made his way downstairs to the living room. Once he arrived there, he was greeted by the presence of his wife, Uzumaki Natsuki and his two sisters, Konan and Karin. The three of them had been visiting Kumogakure since Natsuki missed her sister Matatabi. Naruto had asked Konan and Karin to act as escort to his wife during her vacation.

"Hello you three, how was the trip to Kumo ?" Naruto asked.

"It was great, all our friends from there send you their regards." Konan replied.

"That damn musician Killer Bee was still annoying as hell." Karin added.

"Everyone's doing fine, especially my sister. I think she is making poor Yugito crazy with her antics each time they switch possession for the body." Natsuki finally said with a smile.

"I'm glad that everyone is fine. You should go see Kushina, she really missed all three of you girls. I just put her to bed after telling her a story, but she was far from tired and if she's anything like me or you, I bet she's still up." Naruto told them.

As the three Uzumaki women went to see Kushina in her room, Naruto was once again left alone. Telling his daughter the story of how he ended the war made him remember his final fight against Sasuke all over again, especially the ending of that confrontation.

* * *

><p><em><span>Flashback<span> : Final moment of the fight_

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><p><em>As he and Sasuke had both reached their limits in holding up their respective jutsu, they tried to summon every last bit of strength they had. Looking around, each of them found something that decided of the outcome of that fight. <em>

_Sasuke gazed at the dead form of his brother, Itachi, as the sole reason that made him want to become stronger in his original timeline, only to find out that everything he believed in was a lie. _

_Naruto had no way of knowing when his jutsu would fail and was faced with a choice. He could still try to dispel the field and attempt to escape and fight again another day or he could keep on going and hope for the best. Naruto looked around and saw all his friends looking at him from the walls of the city. He also spotted his reason to live, Natsuki, and knew he had to finish this now for hers and everyone's sake._

_That was the tie breaking factor, the difference in support they had allowed Naruto to phase back in a mere fraction of second later than Sasuke did. It allowed him to reach further into his enemy's guard and place a hand, right where Sasuke's heart was located to launch a **Shin'Zou Hakai**. The Uchiha blindly tried to activate a **chidori** and still randomly managed to hit Naruto, but not in a critical spot._

_As Hyorinmaru was dispelled, the rain fell down again on them, revealing Naruto's presence right in front of Sasuke with a hand ripping out his heart while the Uchiha barely managed to merely injure the blond._

_Despite the pain, Naruto summoned his last strength into plugging out Sasuke's eyes from his head, throwing them in the air for Ryuoh to burn them before the Dragon King was also dispelled. Both warriors fell to the ground and everything went dark._

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><p><em><span>Flashback End<span>_

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><p>Naruto decided to go to bed as well, tomorrow would be a long day since it was the chosen day by Tsunade for him to formally succeed her as the Sixth Hokage of Konohagakure. The last six years had been especially peaceful, with the Alliance's meeting still taking place twice a year.<p>

People were really starting to understand each other and no war had been fought ever since. He had accomplished Jiraiya's dream and was about to make his own a reality, by becoming the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure and having a family of his own with his loving wife and their daughter.

**Fin**

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><p><strong>AN : **That's it folks, I hope I didn't forget anything too important in this chapter. Give me feedback, this is my first ending as well, I'm sure it will be useful for me in the future.


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